


Sanders Sides Coffeeshop!

by AndAnEmoWhosNowOurBestFriend



Category: Sanders Sides, Thomas Sanders
Genre: BTW they all have different surnames in this so, Coffeeshop AU, Gen, Human AU, ITS ALL PLATONIC PEOPLE, Most of this is either made up, Or Improv, Why do I lie to myself?, YES I think Remy is a side shush, theres a lot of swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-05-20 15:03:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 28,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14896802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndAnEmoWhosNowOurBestFriend/pseuds/AndAnEmoWhosNowOurBestFriend
Summary: The Upbeat Caffine. The place where Thomas, Roman, Patton, Logan, Remy and Virgil work.“But what interesting stuff could ever happen at a Coffeeshop?”I hear you say. Well, Glad you asked!





	1. Introductions

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic so tell me how I did. The first chapter was originally going to be a oneshot, but it kind just.. developed XD  
> Anyways, thanks for reading, have a good day! :)

It all started when Thomas first started to get addicted to coffee. Sure, that’s a normal thing but being the kind-hearted person he was, he decided to help out others and open up his own coffeeshop. Unusually, he decided to hire all of the workers he needed BEFORE opening up the store to the public. First of all there was himself, the manager that occasionally worked the front desk. This was mainly because he just liked helping people out, and watching people turning from angry caffeine-deprived monsters into normal humans was kind of a nice feeling, knowing that he helped that process.  
Then there was his second-in-command, his partner, if you will. That was Logan. Logan would normally tend to all the bills, taxes, and so on. Y’know, the boring stuff. He drank coffee a lot, probably because he stayed up late sorting out all the shop’s expenses, so it kind of makes sense.  
Then there was Patton. Patton was the most sociable person Thomas had ever seen. He was great with people, so he was immediately put on front desk duty. He was basically a ball of sunshine and everyone loved having him around.  
Next was Roman. Roman was similar to Patton, but not quite as selfless. He was indeed an extrovert, but in a different way. Instead of being considerate and completely selfless, he could sometimes be... competitive. As in, you could talk to him and he was still very friendly, but then he would go of on a tangent talking about his “adventures” and what he accomplished in doing so.  
Then was Remy. Remy was very friendly and loved gossip. He could talk for hours if given the chance, just talking with the customers after letting them order. If someone tried to stop him they would get either a rude gesture or very sassy remark. Yep, he’s like that.  
Last was Virgil. Probably the least sociable person of them, (though it could be argued that Logan was.) Despite being very unsociable, he was still somewhat friendly with everyone in the coffeeshop, customer or worker. Though, one thing that pissed him off more than anything, was that mostly everyone else in the shop knew NOTHING about different types of coffees. This was when Thomas knew he NEEDED Virgil at the store.

 

It was a normal day at the shop, Upbeat Caffine. Virgil and Roman were disagreeing over something in the back of the store, Patton was making sure all the pastries and cakes were fresh (totally not taking any.) Remy was at the front desk, ready to greet the early-morning customers. Logan was nowhere to be seen, so probably in his office reading, while Thomas was looking over everything, making sure everything was ready for the day.

 

“Think about it Virgil! Oyster and salt coffee! Doesn’t that sound amazing?! We could eve-“  
“Okay, one: that sounds disgusting. Two:the combination is oyster and KIWI. And that recipe isn’t even for a coffee!”  
“Yeah, bu-“  
“Actually, I’m afraid I must agree with Virgil, Roman.”  
Roman nearly jumped out of his skin and yelled when he heard Logan’s calm voice from behind him. Virgil however, saw Logan and burst into laughter when he saw Roman’s shocked face.  
“While it sounds like an...intrueging combination, I must agree with Virgil when I say that i wouldn’t want to drink something that sounds like that. Also, Virgil’s right. It isn’t a recipe for coffee, it’s a recipe for a jam combination.”  
Roman was mildly annoyed at how easily his idea got shut down but nonetheless proceeded to continue bombarding Virgil with absurd ideas for doughnut fillings, drinks and so on.

Meanwhile the shop was just beginning to open, and Remy was at one of the counter, while Roman was supposed to be at the other.  
“Roman, get your ass out here before I drag you out by your hair!” He said, as people were just flooding in. Roman heard the irritation in Remy’s voice and hurried out. Remy was not a morning person and Roman didn’t want to find out if the threat was true or not.

So they spent the next few hours serving customers, with Remy’s constant chatter and Roman’s playful banter with everyone. With the bustle of annoyed morning people dealt with, the shop had a calming atmosphere, with a customer coming in every now and then.

It was about midday now, and there were more people coming in for their regular drinks and snacks. Patton wandered over to the cake case with a sample tray in hand. There were a couple of children there and they had been looking at the cakes longingly for the past five minutes while their mother ordered her drink.  
“Hey Missy! Hey Pranks! Here,” Patton said cheerfully, holding the tray out to them “they’re free samples, take one!” The children’s faces lit up as they each took a cookie each. They both said their thanks yous and happily ate them. That was Pattons favourite thing to do. Make people happy. He smiled at them and went back to behind the counter and set the tray down.

In the afternoon, peoples shift’s switched. Remy and Roman now could give out free samples, serve people or make the coffees. That meant that Patton and Virgil were now at front desk. Patton was completely fine with this everyday, he was still helping people and got to talk to everyone. Virgil, on the other hand, hated this time of the day. He would take people’s orders, give them thier change, and that was that. He wasn’t one for talking with strangers and didn’t know what to do whenever they had annoyed customers because “there were two shots of espresso instead of one.” So he just got someone else to take care of it. But of course, he was most happy making coffees because it was kind of quiet and he was probably the only one that knew how to make them. Once Thomas was talking to him about coffee and said these exact words,  
“Wait, there’s a difference between a latte and espresso?” Seriously?!

 

“Alas, but the dragon-witch has stolen all of the cakes! Do not fear, young one, for I Roman, will valiantly retrieve them for you!” Roman was swapped with Virgil at the front desk, and a child asked his father for a cake. So, after Roman yelled this, he dove to the back of the kitchen where the fresh cakes were. Deciding to make things more realistic, he shouted some random phrases, such as “Take that!” He chose to ignore the look Virgil gave him. He untied his apron, mussed his hair a bit, but not too much that it would ruin it, and walked back into the main part of the shop.  
“I have slain the dragon-witch! Here you go!” Roman offered the tray of cakes to the child and she gladly took one, giggling all the while. All the while, the others were watching this scene play out. This happened almost every day. Roman was good with the kids because he knew how to keep them entertained while their adults ordered their drinks.

 

Logan definaltely wasn’t the most extroverted person in the world. He tended to stay in his office doing paperwork to keep the place going. But every so often he would come downstairs into the shop, make a coffee, maybe have some light-hearted chats and jokes with the others, then go back upstairs. The other were ok with this, everyone had their own way of doing things in the shop, but they all worked together and loved it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cc is welcome! Also I will post ever Friday (or try to, at least)


	2. A bet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to virgilsanders76, I was given this idea. Virgil and Roman make a bet about Virgil’s introvertedness (I think that’s a word XD) and it takes an interesting turn..  
> I made it sound so dramatic wow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: who am I kidding, I don’t need warnings
> 
> Also, I KNOW that this looks way shorter than the first. But that’s because the first had introductions and “The Bet” will be a two part thing. Enjoy!

The day had started off pretty normal, with everyone going about their respective activities. Except today, Roman and Virgil were talking about an odd topic.

“Greetings Virgil!”

“Huh? Oh, what’s up Princey?”

“Well, I was thinking earlier-“

“Wow, that’s new.” Virgil couldn’t hold back a smirk as Roman threw his hand to his chest in mock offence.

“Ouch, you wound me so! Anyways, I was _wondering_  earlier; why are you so shy around other people?”

”I’m not shy, just don’t like talking to people.” Virgil deadpanned, looking straight (ha) at Roman. Roman’s face went blank for a minute while he thought about this fact.

”Princey, are you o-“

”AHA!” Roman literally yelled, causing Virgil to jump about a foot off of the floor. He turned to face Virgil with an overly-cocky grin stretched across his face.

”I challenge you, Virgil Winters, to a dare!”

 

Virgil raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, “What kind of dare?”

”Well, considering you’re not the most uh...eccentric..from our bunch, I challenge you to go an entire day facing your worst nightmare; people! You are to work the entire day tomorrow at the front counter and be as extroverted as you possibly can! That means smiles, polite conversation and,” Roman paused dramatically, “Eye contact.”

”So basically just work the front counter for the day tomorrow and socialise?” Virgil sighed. He was not looking forward to this.

”Well, yes. But it was so much cooler the way I said it!”

”Whatever helps ya sleep at night. So, what do I get if I win?” Virgil was slowly starting to feel more confident, a small smirk growing on his face. Clearly he knew something Roman didn’t.

”Then I will have to do any one thing you ask of me! Well, within reason. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, shall we?”

 Roman stuck out his hand, grin still on his face, completely believing he had won this battle. So he was slightly suprised when he felt Virgil’s hand shake his. But of course he didn’t show it.

  

”You’re on.”

  

 

Roman was positive he was gonna win this, the grin on his face when Virgil came in said it all. Virgil dropped off his bag in the kitchen and made his way over to Roman.

”Sure you still wanna go through with this, Hot Topic?”

Virgil just flashed a smile, nodded at him and walked over to the front counter. A while after everyone else had arrived, Thomas came up to Virgil.

”Hey Virge, you know you’re not supposed to be on front counter duty till 2 o’clock, right?”

”Yeah, don’t worry Thomas. It’s just Roman told me I couldn’t be an extroverted person and I wanted to prove him wrong, we made a bet and here I am.”

”Oh, ok. Just..don’t push yourself.” That was Thomas for you. Always concerned for Virgil, even though he didn’t fully know him yet. Once Thomas left, another person decided to enlighten Virgil with their presence.

”Hey hun, you ok? Where’s Roman? Did he quit? Why’re you in his spot? Did he-“ Virgil knew this all too well by now. Remy would keep asking questions till the day he died at this rate, so he quickly butted in,

”Rem, chill. Ro and I just made a small bet. Nothin big,”

”Sure.” Remy winked and walked back to his counter just as the regulars started to wander in.

 

 

 

Roman, along with Thomas and Remy, were watching Virgil, dumbfounded. For all the years they had known him, he had just been a shy, introverted guy that hated social settings. Well, apparently, they couldn’t have been more wrong. Because there was Virgil, sweeping around the shop with enough gusto that it almost topped Roman’s! Logan and Patton weren’t nearly as suprised though.  Logan knew that nobody knew Virgil that well, so they were judging mainly on appearance, which is not a healthy habit to pick up on. Patton also liked to believe that everyone had a different side to them, and that this was Virgil’s. Every so often, he’d offer people free samples, joke with the customers, or just cheered everyone up any way he could. As he walked past Roman, he smiled at him in a knowing way. Patton and Remy apparently thought that this was very funny, because they both started laughing, while Logan and Thomas exchanged looks. It was gonna be a strange day.

 

 

 As promised, Virgil didn’t go into the back once. If he needed something from his bag, he would ask Roman while trying not to laugh at his face. Everyone else had (mostly) grown accustomed to Virgil’s temporary personality shift, minus the side glances every now and then. But every so often Roman would catch Remy taking pictures out of the corner of his eye. He bet that if he went on his Instagram later, he would see countless pictures of Virgil smiling and talking with people, probably with some weird caption like,

” _What is happening to the world?!”_ Or _“looks who’s socialising!”_ Plus an endless amount of hashtags.

Roman sighed. This wasn’t how he planned this to go. He expected Virgil to either turn down the idea, or just fail miserably when the time came. As he was deep in thought, Patton came to check on him.

”You ok kiddo? You seem sad.”

”Huh? Oh, heya Patton. No I’m not sad. Still kinda suprised that Dr. Doom and Gloom over there is talking to people so naturally without running away.”

”Well, maybe this will change the way you see him?” Patton smiled and started to walk away.

“Oh Yeah, Patton? Why did you call me ‘kiddo’ just now?”

“Oh right! Well, sometimes I call my friends that on accident! Sorry if I upset yo-“

“It’s fine! But, you do remember that I’m two years older than you, right?” Patton laughed,

“Yeah, sometimes I just call people that. It kinda becomes a habit I guess.” Roman smiled and nodded, letting Patton get back to his work.

 

 

 Just as the last customer walked out, Virgil strolled over to Roman, a mischievous smile on his lips.

”Hope you’re ready for that forfeit, Princey.” After saying this, he walked off, leaving Roman with a somewhat shocked expression on his face. He was so lost in thought that he hardly noticed the flash of a camera blind him momentarily. But then he heard Remy giggling.

”Awww, is someone bitter that they didn’t win? Sorry, but that face was too good to not take a photo of it!” His giggle turned into a full on laugh, doubling over on himself. 

“Oh shit! Now look what you made me do!” Remy’s sunglasses had fallen off of his face and onto the floor. Roman picked them up and handed them to him.

”Thanks.” Was all Remy said before going off to help Thomas in the back of the shop. Roman wasn’t focused on that though. He was thinking about what he had just gotten himself into. He hadn’t expected Virgil to _win_!

 

Roman wondered what he’d make him do as a forfeit...

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Tell me if you want more! I will try and come up with a normal schedule I promise :) AND REMEMBER KIDDOS, don’t make deals if you can’t accept the consequences! (I sound like some inspirational kids show XD)  
> Also, don't mind the really weird layout of this one. The website decided to be annoying and made me rewrite this 1000 times XD


	3. The Bet (Part Two)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here's part two to "The Bet"  
> Enjoy!  
> (Or don't, I wont force you) :)
> 
> (Roman faces the consequences of his bet with Virgil

When he entered the store, Roman dropped his bag behind the counter. He would need it there, considering he was going to be the person to work the front counter first. He hesitantly shuffled over to Virgil. He could see that he had the same smile on his face that Roman had given to Virgil the day previous, to make it all the more infuriating.

"Sure you wanna go through with this, Princey?" Well, this felt Deja Vu.

"O-of course! What kind of Prince would I be if I were so obnoxious as to lie to you?"

"Yourself?" Fair played. Virgil laughed at Roman's offended face before continuing,

"Ok, let me finish. So, I'm gonna go easy on you. All you have to do is make coffees for the day. So, no human interaction."

No. No way, _whatsoever_. Roman couldn't do that! That's so unfair! How else is he supposed to talk to everyone, tell them all about his wondrous adventures, and help everyone while he was in the kitchen? Virgil saw Roman's face and sighed.

"Ok, before you say anything, you're helping by making coffee, Patton's covering your shift, and you're not meant to talk; that's the _point._ Also, I want a regular black coffee so, get on that." Virgil really did work hard to plan this all out. You had to give him credit for that. But Roman was still mad at him.

So, Roman was shooed into the kitchen, his jaw slightly open. Virgil couldn't lock him in this- this- this _Dungeon_ for the whole day! Could he?

Ugh, it was so much more fun yesterday...

 

 

Roman had been trapped in the kitchen for about, 4 hours now? He was stupidly bored, and was growing more and more confused by the coffee-making process. How do you add cream and make it look good? How often does he need to refill the water-tank thingy? _WHAT IS AN AMERICANO?!_

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard something; a kid's voice. They were asking their parent for a hot chocolate. Roman was then ordered to make it. A plan, however, started growing in his head. Sure, it was probably pretty childish, but it was his only chance of making someone happy that day, (considering how badly he made the coffees, those weren't helping anyone.) He proceeded to make the drink, with milk, sugar and cream. At least those were easy to make. When he was finished, Roman grabbed one of the small wooden stirrers from the drawer. He then made a shape in the foam that, kind of resembled a dragon? Well, it would have to do. He then poked two holes for eyes, and a small lopsided smile.

"What is taking so long? Hurry it up!" Roman then walked to the front to hand the cup to Remy, who then handed it to the little kid. Even though he was in the kitchen, Roman could of seen that smile from a mile away. The child giggled, and skipped merrily out of the store, closely followed by the parent, who was clearly confused as to why their kid was so excited about hot chocolate.

 

 

"All I'm saying, is that I question your creativity, Virgil. You gave Roman the same forfeit he gave you as a dare, but opposite. Why is this?" Logan and Thomas were talking with Virgil, while Patton and Remy managed the front counters.

"Well, if you think about it, It'll affect him more than me. I mean, I don't really like people, but that doesn't mean I don't know how to handle them. Roman, on the other hand, can't live without his social interaction. So, he'll probably get bored quickly," Thomas looked into the kitchen to see Roman, who was banging his head on a wall, and turned back to Virgil,

"See, it was a good forfeit, I think. It won't really damage him much, well, maybe his inflated ego, but not physically."

"Bu- No, wa- Ok, I can't argue with that. Valid points, Virgil." Logan smiled, and him and Thomas left Virgil to do whatever he was doing.

 

 

 

UGH, It was nearly 2 O'clock, and Roman was still trapped in an evil lair filled with coffee beans and plastic cups. Remy would walk past every now and then, and to make sure Roman didn't go insane, told him snippets of gossip or something interesting, only to be swatted away by Virgil, who said that he was in the back of the store for a reason. Everyone else was probably at the front of the shop right now, enjoying the fresh air from open doors and sunshine and...Ok, he was being a little dramatic. There was sunlight and air but, you know. He then thought of something, but he wasn't sure about the reaction he would get from people, especially Virgil. But, it would be worth it.

 

" _Someone HELP! The dragon witch has captured me and am now stuck in this dungeon! I NEED A HERO!" _Roman yelled in a voice as loud as he could muster.__

____

The reactions were, mixed...to say the least. Logan jumped slightly but continued with his work, somehow. Virgil jumped too, but immediately glared in the direction of Roman, who was now hiding behind some cupboards. Thomas yelped, but soon after realised what was going on and laughed about it. Remy full-on screeched, jumped, and laughed at the same time. It was an...odd sound. Patton immediately laughed. All the kids, however, reacted differently. Some hid behind their mother, others laughed nervously, and one brave little kid even tried to help by running behind the counter, in order to "save" Roman... He had to be dragged away by his mother.

____

 

____

 

____

At the end of the day, after several more "Cries for help" and, badly-made coffees, Roman was released from his torture chamber.

____

"Virgil?! How long has it been? It feels like it's been 10 years-"

____

"Roman, it's been just under 12 hours, stop. That was your forfeit, and you did it. Congratulations."  The sarcasm was evident in Virgil's voice as he said this.

____

"Why thank you!"

____

"Wait, that's no-" Virgil decided not to tell him that he was being sarcastic.

____

"Oh yeah. Roman, you made a couple of kids scream earlier today, so well done." Roman looked at him, a look of shock and amusement on his face,

____

"Wait, what? Were they ok?"

____

"Yeah, don't worry. Apparently they thought that you had actually been kidnapped by the dragon-bitch, whatever its called, One kid even tried to get into the back of the store by running to the counter and around it."

____

"Aww, why did you stop him? He could have saved me from you!"

____

"Ok, first, why would I let someone help you after you agreed to the consequence? That's just stupid. And second, I didn't stop him, his mom did. You should of seen her face!" Virgil let out a huff of a laugh, remembering  their antics of earlier that day.

____

 

____

 

____

"Well, I'm gonna deck out. See ya Princey." Virgil grabbed his bag and left the store, leaving Roman alone with his thoughts once again. That day was absolute _torture_. And Virgil said he was going easy on Roman! Roman decided that he did not want to find out what "worst" meant in Virgil's eyes, if they were ever to make a bet again.

____

 

____

Yeah, he wasn't going to make anymore bets with Virgil anytime soon.

____

 

____

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cc is welcome! Tell me any ideas that you want me to write for this! I also am writing a "Sanders Sides Oneshots" thing at the minute, so yeah. :)


	4. The Best Coffee Makers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SORRY I KNOW ITS LATE FORGIVE ME.  
> Seriously though, I’m sorry, I’ve been having a bit of a creative block at the minute. I’m mostly over it now though.  
> Enjoy!  
> (Or don’t, I won’t force you :) )

After all of the antics from the previous couple of days, you’d assume that everything would go back to normal, with people going back to their ‘boring’ jobs. But no. It seemed that everyday would be interesting at the Upbeat Caffine.

It was before the shop opened up and Thomas was gathered round with everyone, talking about coffees. Suprise, suprise.

“Okay, so I was wondering earlier-“

“Ah, I see that you have stopped using the word ‘thinking’ around Virgil now.” 

“Oh, yeah. Like I’d call my own boss stupid. Real smart, Logan.” Virgil quipped. Though, it was weird him saying that, considering he had called Thomas some...harsher things in the past. It was just that kind of friendship between the two.

“You have called him worse-“

“ _Anyways,_ I was considering the fact that; we only have the original, boring coffees, right?”

“So?” 

“ _So,_ maybe we should spice it up a bit! You’re all to design your own individual coffee combinations. Or, you can work together if you so wish. But you don’t have to if you don’t want to!”

Their reactions were... mixed. Roman immediately smiled; _This would be all too easy!_ Patton looked slightly nervous; _I’m..not that good at making coffees.._ Remy gasped; .. _Did he just call coffee boring?! Oh, but yeah, this’ll probably be fun._ Logan crossed his arms; _I wonder how many of the others will come up with completely illogical combinations._ Virgil raised an eyebrow; _Huh. I might actually have a shot at this.._

 _“_ I’m gonna give you two days-“

Hold on. Hold up. No. They had to think of coffee blends, and still do their jobs, in two days?! That was a lot less do-able. Thomas saw the shocked look on their faces and grinned.

“Before any of you say anything, remember I said you can work in partners, so maybe they can help you?” Thomas said brightly. “Though, I will be the judge, so one of you may have to work on your own.”

“I will,” Virgil said immediately, “It’ll be easier than working with any of you dorks. And anyways, you’ll need each other more than I will.” He smirked. There was no malice in his words, however.

“That was uncharacteristically cocky of you, Virgil.” Logan thought out loud.

“Yeah, well. I’d like to say I know the most about coffee out of anyone here. And it’d be better if I worked by myself.”

“Okay, so Virgil’s gonna work by himself. So what about you guys? Who are you gonna work with, if anyone at all?” Thomas looked around at the other.

“Gurl, I can work by myself! Trust me, I know my coffee. I’ve been drinking it since I was thirteen!” Remy said, sipping on the coffee ironically in his hand.

“Since you were thirteen?-“

“Is there an echo in here? Yes, since I was thirteen! Anyways, I’m cool to work by myself.”

“Just because you drink it does not mean you know all the different types of coffee, Remy. If you compete in this alone, you are sure to fail. I guess this means I shall have to assist you in this... predicament.” Logan stated, pushing up his glasses with his middle finger. He was becoming mildly frustrated with Remy’s moronic statements.

“Aww, Specs, you do like me! Sure, we can work together on this ‘predicament’ Remy laughed when Logan sighed at the nickname. _This is gonna be a strange pair,_ Thomas thought.

“Okay, so that’s those two. What do you guys wanna do?” He looked at Roman and Patton, who grinned at each other.

“Come along, Patton! Together we shall destroy these peasants in the slightly laborious quest!” Roman proclaimed.

“Roman, it’s just coffee-“

“SILENCE FOOL!” Roman shrieked at Logan, who jumped and readjusted his tie subconsciously, something he did when startled. Pattons laugh rang throughout the entire shop, loud and clear.

“O-Okay Roman, I’ll join y-you on your quest, just please q-quieten down a bit!” Patton stuttered out, while trying and failing to stifle his laughter. 

“Very well then! We shall prepare for battle immediately! Let us go and-“ Roman was stopped by Thomas, who had to literally pull him back by his sash, (which he for some reason wears) and also had to drag Patton back, as he was being dragged along by Roman.

”Whoa, whoa! Hold your horses, Roman! We are just going to make sure that everyone is clear with everything.” Thomas said, making Roman groan loudly. 

“Okay, so all you need to do is invent a new coffee flavour. You have two days to do so. Oh, and it has to taste good. Obviously.” Thomas smiled at everyone. He seemed like he was...waiting for something.

“Y’know Thomas,” Patton began, a small smile slowly growing on his face, “Remembering all of that is gonna be... a _latte_ work.” Thomas, Patton and Remy burst into laughter, while the other two groaned in unison.

“Okay, Okay. Let’s just get this over with.” Virgil muttered.

“Oooh, Virgil’s mad! Look, look, he’s practically-” “DON’T” “ _Frothing_ at the mouth with anger!” 

Logan’s eye twitched slightly, trying very hard to not storm out of the room, while everyone else grumbled and giggled. Thomas cleared his throat and spoke over everyone else’s laughter,

“O-Okay, okay. We all know what we’re doing now, right? Alright, lets do this!”

 

 

 

Roman and Patton were sat together at one of the tables in the cafe during their break. Thomas had been nice enough to let them have their breaks at the same time, so they could work on their ideas together. They were chatting with each other, and Patton suddenly told Roman to be quiet in a serious tone. His face displayed no emotion whatsoever, leaving roman totally confused. _What is going on?_  

“Wait, What? Why? Are you ok?” Roman said, his confusion clearly showing on his face.

Patton leaned forward and whispered, 

“Because otherwise the others will hear us!” Patton whisper-shouted and cracked up completely. Roman’s face was too funny. Roman sighed and rolled his eyes, smiling at Patton slightly.

”And there’s me thinking I had to kill something for you. Oh well, guess not today. But seriously, what could we add to this coffee?” Roman said. He was tapping his pen against a small notebook that was sat on the table. 

“Well, what type of coffee do you think is best?” Patton questioned. Mybe he should have rephrased that. He knew how roman would answer this question.

“Vanilla, obviously.” Yep. Guessed it.

“Roman, not _your_ most popular flavour! I mean the most popular in general.” Patton shook his head fondly.

“Oh, T-that’s What I meant too! Well, there’s pumpkin spice lattes, ummm- ooo! I know! Toffee lattes!” Roman yelled, completely forgetting that one of the others might be listening. Patton thought for a minute. Toffee coffee sounds real good. He’s tried it before and it tasted really good and sweet. But there was one slight problem...

“Roman, that’s been done before. Obviously.” 

“Oh, well I knew that! Well, why don’t we mix it with something else?” Roman suggested.

Well, that was that sorted. Now they just had to think of something that would go well with it...

 

 

 

In Logan’s office, Logan and Remy were going through their notes, much to Remy’s distress. _This is getting kinda boring,_ Remy thought, _Oh well, at least that means me and Lo are more likely to win this stupid thing._ Logan looked over to Remy, who was sat on the desk, and sighed. 

“Remy, please assist me with this. I will require your help with this, otherwise technically it will still be my coffee idea, but not yours.” Logan internally smirked, knowing this would really piss Remy off. If there was one thing couldn’t stand, among the many others, it was not getting attention, especially when he was owed it. So Remy jumped up quickly and walked over to Logan, still sipping on his now-lukewarm-coffee. 

“So, what’s the big idea, Spectacles?”

“’Spectacles?’”

“What? Gotta freshen it up, y’know?” Remy snickered at Logan’s irritated expression, and let him continue.

“Anyways, the ‘big idea,’ is that we don’t _have_ one yet. So, help please.”

”Okay, okay. Well, what have you come up with so far?”

“Well, I was thinking,” Logan began, “Maybe we could somehow involve coconut milk. Don’t comment yet, I have a reason for this. I thought this because I think it would be a good replacement for people that are lactose-intolerant.” Logan looked up at Remy, and was suprised to see that he was grinning widely.

“That’s a real good idea, Lo! We are totally gonna get bonus points for that!”

“What about the fact that we are considering the customer’s health and well-being?”

“Oh, That too! But if we’re gonna involve coconut milk, we should probably make it a Mocha. Y’know, so it has all the chocolatey bits too!”

”I’m genuinely suprised that you even know what that is, Remy.” Logan smirked at Remy, who waved an idle hand at him, totally not offended by that statement.

Now they had to figure out if anything else could be added to the drink.. 

 

 

 

Virgil was sat on the countertop in the kitchen. Luckily, Thomas was his boss, so he didn’t really have to worry about ‘sanitary regulations,’ as long as he wiped the counter down after. He had a small notepad in one hand, and a pencil in another. He sucked the end of the pencil in thought, and began to write;

 ~~Latte?~~ Black coffee?

The lined pages remained mostly blank, except for the odd couple of notes on the page. Virgil knew it was gonna be a black coffee, that much was obvious, but he couldn’t just leave it at that. There had to be something else that Virgil could add. It had to be creative, but not like ‘Roman level’ so much so that it was just stupid. It also had to taste good, otherwise there is no other point in introducing it, right? Virgil walked over to the menu boardsand stared at them, reading them carefully. There were the normal generic coffees, iced coffees and slightly more interesting ones. Those were things like, coffee with coconut milk, ones with dusts if cinnamon, and ones with chocolate syrup or swirls. Virgil sighed. It would definately be easier working on his own, not having the pressure of having anyone else around weighing him down, but he wasn’t the most creative person in the world. So it would be a little bit harder, but he could handle it. He just had to think hard enough. What would go well with a black coffee, iced or otherwise?

Sugar? _Well duh, that’s something you put in coffee normally._

Caramel? _In black coffee? Ewww, no!_

Tea leaves? _Virgil, are you stupid? No!_

Wait...

Virgil began to scribble things down in his notebook again, tounge sticking out slightly as he wrote. He was so immersed in his writing that he didn’t notice Thomas enter the kitchen, not until Thomas placed a hand on Virgil’s shoulder. Virgil jumped and glared at the person standing above him, thinking it was one of the others. When he saw who it was, though, he still glared lightly but apologised.

”Oh, what’s up Thomas?”

”Hey Virge, I was just checking on ya. You looked like you were gonna break that pencil in half for a second there.” Thomas smiled at him, and took his hand off of Virgil’s shoulder, much to his relief. 

“Nah, I’m fine Thomas. Just working on coffee ideas, y’know.” He then looked pointedly at Thomas, who laughed light-heartedly.

”Well, I’ll leave ya to it. Take it easy.” He said kindly, and wandered away.

 _That was weird,_ Virgil thought, _Anyways, I should probably just get on with this stupid competition._

 

Okay, now the question was; should he just keep the two ingredients, or add some more?..

 

 

It was the final day before Thomas would judge everyone’s ‘creations.’ And all of the members of staff were reacting differently to this fact.

Roman and Patton were quite confident, though it was unclear wether that was due to their eccentric personalities or if they had actually done a good job.

Logan and Remy were a bit more apprehensive, mainly because their drink was slightly more daring with the flavours. But Remy, being the diva that he was, was already certain that they’ll win the competition. And Logan, thinking logically, came to a conclusion that they have a 33.3% chance of coming through victorious. This of course was with the bare minimum of information on the other’s drinks.

Virgil, though, was a different matter entirely. See, him working by himself, he didn’t have anyone to tell him the idea was good, or that they will totally win. Because of this, Virgil’s negativity clouded his judgement and he decided that he would lose this little mini-tournament. So, naturally, he was anxious about this whole thing.

Of course, they still had to serve customers like normal, except for the fact that they had to reschedule their breaks. Though everyone was slightly more jittery than usual, maybe except for roman and Remy, who kept arguing about who’s drink was better.

“All I’m saying is that mine and Patton’s is more likely to win!”

“Boy, how can you say that when you haven’t even seen ours yet!”

“Because ours is fabulous! And it tastes amazing!”

“Roman, no-“

“Roman yes!!”

Okay, even Remy knew that this was getting kinda dumb now. Roman had an expression on his face, a mixture of wounded dignity, anger and confidence. Roman and Remy were both on front counter at the minute, and for Remy it was becoming harder and harder to not walk out. _Ugh, will he ever shut up?_ Remy thought. It was getting so annoying at this point that he had to give himself a mental pep talk.  _It’s fine, just a little longer. Just, whatever you do, don’t throw coffee at him. You can do this, Remy._

 

 

The rest of the day went by surprisingly fast, and it was the next day before anyone could even comprehend it. If everyone was nervous yesterday, it was nothing compared to today. It wasn’t quite explained why though. There wasn’t a prize, or punishment for that matter, so why was it so important? Anyways, even Remy and Roman couldn’t hide the fact that they were starting to feel uneasy now. And, just to be more suspenseful, Thomas decided to wait until the shop closed before finally choosing. That kinda made sense. If they had found out earlier, then they would either be too upset or elated to work properly. But right now they were just kinda nervous.

Dang, Thomas really did know what he was doing.

 

Despite yesterday going quite fast, today was almost agonisingly slow. It took a lot of willpower to keep working as normal, but they all managed it. By the time it was finally the end of the work day, everyone was nervous yet still bored out of their minds, maybe except for Patton, who was surprisingly the most calm one there. Eventually everyone was crowded around in a circle with Thomas in the kitchen, except for Patton and Virgil, who were closing up the shop out front. When they were done, they both practically sprinted into the back of the shop.

“Okay, Okay. Let’s get this show on the road!” Thomas said. Even though he wasn’t participating, it still made him nervous because he didn’t wanna disappoint anyone.

“Logan and Remy, you’re up first!” Logan sighed and Remy ran over to the counter and grabbed the coffee which he had prepared a few minutes before. He ran back over, despite Logan’s warnings to slow down, and carefully handed it to Thomas. Thomas looked at it and sniffed at it. _Weird, it smells fruity and chocolatey at the same time. Huh._

“Okay, talk me through this. What am I about to drink and do I need to be afraid?” Thomas said in a joking manner.

“Alright. This is a Mocha with a dust of cinnamon and coconut milk as a dairy alternative. I- _we_ did this because this way, people who are lactose intolerant can also enjoy this, should they so wish.” Logan stated. He had rehearsed this many times, and he successfully didn’t stutter, for the most part. Everyone else was jealous of the thought that went into theirs. _Dang it, why hadn’t we thought of that?_ Roman thought to himself. 

“Sounds good! Oh, yeah. I’m gonna tell you the results and everything else at the end, ok?” Everyone nodded. Thomas took a sip of the drink and handed it back to Remy, who ran to go put it back in its spot on the counter.

“Okay, uh...Virgil! You’re up!” After looking around, Thomas picked Virgil to go next, sealing his fate. Virgil handed him a coffee cup and began to explain his.

“O-Okay, mine is a normal black c-coffee with mint leaves added on to it. I didn’t want to go to extra, but I still wanted it to taste good, so yeah..” Virgil stuttered.

“It’ll be fine Virge!” Thomas smiled at Virgil and took a sip of the bitter smelling drink. He then handed it back to Virgil, who took it and walked over to the countertop. Now, it was Roman and Patton’s turn. _Best for last!_  Roman thought.

“Okay Roman and Patton! Explain what this is, because I’d rather like to know what I’m about to put into my stomach! That was weird so I’m not gonna say it again!”

“But Of course! This is a latte with essence of vanilla and small pieces of toffee!” Roman claimed loudly.

Thomas took a sip of the drink Patton had handed him. He gave it back to Roman, who placed it on the table gently.

”You do know you guys are probably gonna keep me up all night by doing this, right?” Thomas said.

”Of course, that was the plan in the first place!” They all said simultaneously. They then looked at each other and burst into laughter, even Virgil and Logan, who weren’t ones for laughing this much. Thomas sighed at them all and laughed.

”Alright, I get it. Time for the judging!” 

And now the most stressful part for everyone. The decision.  Everyone’s laughter slowly died down, and they all looked at Thomas.

“Okay, I’m just gonna get this over with as fast as possible,” he laughed, “Alright, in third place is...” everyone started banging on the table in a mock-drumroll, “Logan and Remy!”

Logan, honestly, wasn’t all that suprised. They way they had assembled the drink was kind of sloppy, but the idea was a good one. Remy’s face went blank; _I am never looking at Roman again. Should I just quit now?_

 _“_ Guys, remember. Even if you got third place, you don’t have a forfeit, and the winners don’t have a prize!” Thomas reminded them, not unkindly.

“What a terrific idea! Let’s do a forfeit!” Roman said.

“Sure you wanna do that after last time, Princey?” Virgil said, smirking.

“Okay, maybe not!”

“Anyways, in second place is..” more drumrolls, “Virgil!” 

Eh, Virgil was expecting worse. He hadn’t even thought about coming in second place, honestly. Roman and Patton, however, were practically jumping up and down in excitement.

“So, that means in first place is-“ drumrolls, “Why are you still doing that? Roman, stop! We don’t need anymore drum-rolling. And you’re the pair that won!” Thomas said while laughing, “ _Anyways,_ that means that in first place is Roman and Patton!”

Roman and Patton both squealed and high-fived. Remy considered quitting again just so he wouldn’t have to face Roman anymore. Virgil was concerned, to say the least. Does it even taste good? Did Roman bribe Thomas? Ugh. 

Logan was happy for them. Good, at least it wasn’t them who won. Logan secretly didn’t want to win because of all of the unnecessary attention.

“Y’know, Patton. You’re gonna have to let us try this ‘amazing’ coffee at one point.” Remy said, smiling at Patton. Patton laughed.

“Will do, kiddo. That was very _sweet_ of you to say so too! Though, yours and Logan’s might be worth a try as well. Can I try yours too?”

And so it went. They all decided to try all the coffees. You can imagine how hyper they were that night. But all the same, they enjoyed the previous few day’s events. 

And who knows, maybe one day they can all be added to the menu. They’ll just have to wait and see...

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! This was interesting to write.  
> My search history is full of weird coffee combinations now XD  
> Give me more ideas of what to write because I need inspiration.  
> Bye!


	5. Fired (Part One)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Saying this now. If it’s bad, I finished at 2am last night (this morning)  
> Anyways, as you may have read, this will be a two parter. That’s why it’s so short.  
> Basically, the shop is slowly losing more customers so Thomas needs to make a decision.  
> I know this was a weird layout for the story, but I only did that because I wanted you guys to see all their opinions, so I made the paragraphs short
> 
> Enjoy!  
> (Or don’t, that’s fine too :) )

~~~~Thomas had bad news. Real bad news. He was still debating as to how he would tell the others. Thankfully Logan already knew about the situation, being the second manager and the one in charge of bills. However, Remy, Roman, Virgil and Patton didn’t know. The problem was, the coffee shop was in debt. Nobody else had noticed the decrease in customers yet. They were getting less and less frequent every day. This caused Thomas and Logan’s shop to not make enough money to cover taxes, water bills, and everything else. They weren’t in too much debt, it was solvable. But for the moment, Thomas was faced with another problem. See, when a coffeeshop goes into debt, they will have to fire their customers, depending how much debt they were in, seeing as they didn’t have enough money to pay them. Right now it looked as if Thomas and Logan were only going to have to let go of one barista. But the question was, who?..

 

This wasn’t going well. Thomas thought that maybe, if he wrote down their most important traits to the shop, it might make the situation easier to figure out. But it didn’t. He looked down at the notebook in front of him and sighed at the notes written within.

Patton: Most friendly. The positivity of the store. Loves helping people. Also bakes most of the treats sold in the store.

Remy: Best promoter. Always on social media checking out the store’s pages. Also loves gossiping. Has a way of making people want to stay and chat. 

Roman: Most entertaining. Great with the kids. Friendly and enthusiastic. Bad at coffee but great at service.

Virgil: Best coffee-maker. Not sociable but makes the best coffee out of everyone here. Calm with customers (mostly)

Logan: Manager. Can’t fire him.

Me: Manager.

Ugh, this was way too hard! They were all so important to the shop! But he’d need to pick someone, right?

 

 

“Guys, I’m gonna have to let you all go.” Thomas said sadly. He had just entered the room and broke the news, quite suddenly. Virgil crossed his arms, a look of confusion on his face. Roman and Remy gasped in unison. They looked at each other, and might have laughed, had it not been for their current situation. A look of concern spread across Patton’s face, a thousand questions popped into his head. Patton spoke up.

“Why, what’s wrong? Are you ok Kiddo?” Thomas laughed slightly at the endearing nickname, and carried on.

“We.. just can’t afford you guys. Well, just can’t afford one of you. But me and Logan both thought it would be too unfair to fire just one of you guys, causing us to pick one of you. You’re all talented at what you do, and if you were fired, even temporarily, you might lose some of that self-confidence, and that is not what I want.”

All the members of staff stared at Thomas, dumbfounded. What does he mean, ‘he can’t afford to keep us?’ One by one, they all turned around. They saw how barren the shop looked, with maybe three or four occupants in total. What could they even do now? There had to be a way to help, right? Roman then came across a strange idea. Strange, but it might work.

“No, Thomas. If you are required to fire one of us then, that is what you’ll do!”

“Come on Roman, I really couldn’t pick-“

“Then you don’t have to! Why don’t you leave it up to the public? That way it’s completely fair. We can make it a public vote, and whoever gets voted out, shall have to resign!” Now everyone was looking at Roman. **Oh God, What if they all pick me?** _I’m so tweeting this, this is just rude!_ That...might actually work. Huh.

“Uh- I dunno you guys, are you all ok with this? This will probably be the fairest way to do this...” Thomas said, still looking torn as to what he should do. Patton smiled and nodded, albeit a little sadly. Remy and Roman both agreed without hassle. Virgil made a noise that Thomas took as a sound of agreement.

“O-Okay, I think we should do it on petitions, not online,” Remy huffed at that, “So, I’ll go put those up later..”

 

 

Thomas was holding a flyer in his hands, with each member of staff in neat print on the front. There was a lamppost right in front of him that he could stick it on. He just had to have the courage to do it. He didn’t know how long the person would have to stay fired for. They had to get out of debt before Thomas could even _think_ about re-hiring whoever was to be fired. Thomas sighed, taped the flyer to the pole and walked away.

———————————————————————————————-—————————-———————————————————

The Upbeat Caffine!

This is a petition for the Upbeat Caffine’s staff. Unfortunately, we are having issues with money at the moment so we will have to fire one of our members. We are leaving the decision up to you as our customers. Who do you want to stay?

Patton Heart?                           Virgil Winters?

 

Roman Sterling?                       Remy Baxter?

 

 

We will come back and check the results soon, and whoever has the most amount of votes, will be let go of. :( 

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Well, that can’t be right! The Upbeat Caffine was quite popular. As a regular herself, the old woman could say that. She saw a fair amount of people there each morning! And how were people going to choose who to fire? They were all so nice, they greeted everyone with a smile when they enter the place! (Mostly) Even that rebellious-looking youngster, Virgil. He would smile at people sometimes, just a small smile, but when it happened it was a lovely sight. Half the time I don’t think he even knew he was smiling! That dramatic-looking boy, Roman, he was a sweetheart too. Always making sure the kids were entertained while the parents were occupied. And the woman couldn’t even get _started_ on the others without going off on some tangent for hours at a time. It somewhat hurt her head, trying to think about the choice presented to the public. Maybe she should go talk to Thomas later...

 

 

Unsuprisingly, Virgil was extremely anxiously about this. _What if they all pick me? I’m not friendly or bubbly like the others. Heck, I hardly even talk to the damn customers! Why did Roman have to think of that stupid idea? I’m not even getting fired by Thomas now, but by half the frikin town. That’s so much worse._

Virgil sighed. He’s been thinking about the situation for most of the morning, and still fails to see how he’s so important to the shop. Well, in time the results will come and he’ll get fired for, however long. So now all he could do, was wait...

 

 

 _Ugh, is the whole damn world against me today?_ Remy thought, as he furiously tapped on his phone. For some unknown reason, his phone decided to disconnect from the cafe’s WiFi, just as he was posting something to Instagram. So now he had to re-type the WiFi password. As the password for free WiFi was on the wall, it wasn’t that hard. But that really didn’t improve Remy’s mood. First he runs out of hairspray this morning, then Thomas tells him he might be fired from his job, and now this?! How could Thomas even do that? Wait- what if it was Logan’s fault? Maybe he gave the idea to roman and he- _No_ , Remy, don’t be dumb. It’s not Logan’s fault.

That would be to obvious...

 

 

Wait, the Upbeat Caffine is firing one of the staff? Why would they do that? The Upbeat Caffine, of all places! _But that place was flooded with people when I went there a few weeks ago!_ The man thought to himself. _A few weeks ago. Oh._

They were all so nice there, it’s hard _not_ to like them all, really. Kinda difficult decision to make though. Must be hard on Thomas, poor guy. He’s good friends with that lot working there. Then again, can’t be easy on them either. Probably all freaking out right now..

 

 

 _Wow, I’m actually not freaking out!_ Patton thought, _I was kinda expecting to._ Patton actually felt somewhat bad for the public. He felt like this was kinda just, suddenly pushed upon them. He hoped it would be a kinda difficult decision, because it showed he was doing his job right. If it was an easy decision of who to fire then, that’s that, isn’t it? Patton exhaled and continued to serve the next customer.

 

 

Thomas inhaled and walked over to one of the many posts with the cafe’s leaflet on. His eyes skimmed over the names so far. He quickly put it back up onto the post again.

Patton Heart?                            Virgil Winters?

 

Roman Sterling?                         Remy Baxter? /

 

 

Remy wasn’t gonna be happy about this, Thomas could tell. Even one vote would probably tip him off quite a bit. Still, they had a couple more days before Thomas would cast the vote.

There was still time.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part two will be out soon! I’ve already figured out that it’ll have a good ending. I’ve also had a few more ideas for this story in particular, so I’ll upload soon! :)  
> Comment so that I know you’re all still alive!
> 
> Genuinely, I was talking to my mom the other day, she was the one who gave me this idea sooo... thanks mom! XD


	6. Fired (Part Two)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I don’t even know what to put here anymore  
>  OH WAIT, yes I do! Give me ideas for what you want to see in this story, also tell me if you like this. Comment so I know that you’re alive!
> 
> WARNINGS:  
> People...getting fired?  
> Who am I kidding, there’s no warnings here except swearing XD
> 
> Enjoy  
> (Or don’t, whatever :) )

_There was still time._

Thomas had said that yesterday, and fully believed it. But in two days he would be firing one of his closest friends for, however the heck long. Thomas walked into The Upbeat Caffeine glumly, looking at the ground. The situation got to him, even though it wasn’t that big. To outsiders, it would seem like an easy decision to make, but it was a lot more than that.

 

 

Everyone was in their designated areas for the early morning. Roman and Remy at the front counter, Virgil and Patton doing coffee-making. Thomas and Logan were in their individual offices, doing manager stuff. Even though everyone was doing things normally, they were more nervous than normal for, obvious reasons. Actually, it seemed that the only one not internally panicking was Patton. He was everyone’s last saving grace for the whole day. Whenever he saw one of the other baristas with a downcast look, he’d find some way to cheer them up. That could mean taking a selfie, singing a Disney song, or taking over someone’s shift for a bit. Logan and Thomas were also a big help, but not as much as Patton. It wasn’t that hard to notice that Virgil was the most anxious one there. Everyone could see that. But what they didn’t notice, however, was that there were a few more customers than yesterday. So now the shop was packing about 10 customers. It was strange Thomas didn’t notice, considering the reason they were sad in the first place, was due to a lack of customers, indirectly.

 

 

Thomas and Logan were sat down at one of the tables, sipping coffees and talking quietly, so no one else would hear.

“So, Thomas. If you had _had_ to fire one of the others temporarily, who would it be?” Logan asked. Thomas frowned and looked at Logan.

“I really wouldn’t be able to pick, Lo. It’s like I said, I don’t want to kill anyone’s self-esteem by making them think they’re the worst worker we have. Because that wouldn’t be true, not matter who we’re talking about. They’re all good at the job, just in their own way.” Thomas looked over at the others and Logan followed his gaze subtly. They both saw that Remy was looking at them from behind the counter, totally not eavesdropping.

“While that was a touching speech, Thomas, you still have to pick. So, who?” Thomas smiled mischievously. Logan caught on and smile slightly.

“Remy.”

“I _heard_ that! Bitch!” Remy yelled from across the cafe.

“Well, you shouldn’t have! Private conversations, Rem! Anyways, no Lo, I really couldn’t pick just one. And _no,_ Remy, I wouldn’t fire you. So stop looking at me like that!” Remy was glaring half-heartedly at Thomas from the counter. He stopped and got back to serving the old man, who was very confused at the two’s exchange.

 

 

That day and the one after passed quickly, and were over before anyone knew it. Once again, Thomas decided to wait until the end of the day before announcing the results. But this time, that might not have been the best idea. It probably just made everyone more anxious. And yet still nobody noticed the steady flow of customers growing, they were all too busy panicking. Apparently, the locals had heard the news that the shop would be forced to fire one of the workers, and started coming back. The last time Thomas had checked the flyers was yesterday. And let’s just say, it wasn’t looking good for Remy. Not that Thomas knew why everyone wanted him gone. But what would be harder would be explaining it to Remy. Thomas didn’t even want to think about it; it would be terrifying.

 

Even though hardly anyone saw, that day in the shop there was about 30 customers. And that was just in the morning. The sales had skyrocketed and it was kinda impressive that Thomas, Logan nor anyone else had seen. Well, apart from Remy and Virgil. Remy had seen and was elated because it meant that he might not be fired later! Virgil noticed because on his front counter shift, he had a lot more people to serve than normal, so it was pretty obvious to him. However, mostly everyone else remained oblivious.

 

 

A regular that Thomas knew, an old woman that came in at the same time almost every day, walked into the shop and up to the front counter. Thomas gave her his usual smile and asked,

“Hi, Sandra! What can I get ya? Your usual?” Sandra smiled at him.

“You know me all to well dear. Bit crowded in here today, isn’t it Thomas? And what’s all this about firing one of your workers, what’re you doing that for?” Thomas paused and decided to focus on the last part of the sentence.

“Well, we just can’t afford all of our guys. Not many people are coming in at the minute, so you see?”

“Do I see? Yes I see! But I don’t think _you_ do! Thomas, have you even bothered to look up from that counter at all these past few days?” Sandra said, not unkindly. Thomas paused again and looked around. He hadn’t really paid attention to his surroundings because he was so busy..

_Because he was so busy._

As he looked around the shop, he could see what the old woman meant. The place was, pretty packed. How had he not noticed this before? Sandra laughed slightly when she saw Thomas’ surprised expression, and continued.

“See, dearie? You’ve had plenty of people coming in for the past few days, but you were so focused on you worries that you didn’t even notice. I’ll bet you didn’t see that I even came in yesterday, right?” He didn’t. He thought she had just went somewhere else..

“Well, I did come here yesterday, but at a different time to my normal. Bet I looked like just another normal old lady to you, didn’t I?” Sandra laughed and Thomas found the ability to talk again.

“I’m sorry Sandra! I didn’t even realise! Oh- here’s your coffee now. I hope you enjoy it, and thank you for, bringing me back to reality, I guess!” Thomas laughed as the lady nodded her head triumphantly and walked over to her usual table, one right by the front windows.

“Old woman bring you back to your senses, boss?” Virgil said, making Thomas jump and whip around. He had literally came out if nowhere.

“Ah!-Oh, hey Virge. Heh, yeah, I guess she did! Y’know, I hadn’t even seen her yesterday, I just thought she was a normal customer.”

“Well, you’re not wrong there; she _is_ a normal customer. But I saw her. You were acting like a damn robot yesterday, just serving people, deadpanning everyone you met. Oh- Do you want coffee? That was the only reason I came out here.” Virgil handed Thomas a coffee, which turned out to be the toffee and vanilla one Patton and Roman came up with the other day, and walked off.

 

 

It was the end of the day, and everyone was packing up as quickly as possible so they could go talk to Thomas. This time, they all crowded round one of the tables in the front of the store, 6 people around a 4-seated table. Roman and Patton pulled up two extra chairs as Thomas began to speak.

“So Guys, I’m sure you’re all pretty nervous about this, I know I was, but I actually have really good news. Logan, care to explain?” Logan sighed and looked around at everyone else. Even though he sighed, he had a smile on his face while he talked.

“Okay, as you may or may not have noticed, we have had a substantial increase in customers ever since Thomas put those flyers up. Thomas however, didn’t notice this and was acting pretty stupidly-“ “ _Burn-“ “_ Roman, shush. Anyways, the good news is, we have had enough customers to keep all of you, for now. All we can hope for is that this isn’t a one time thing and it continues.” Everyone in the closed cafe cheered loudly, ecstatic about the news. They’d be able to stay! Well, for now anyways. But that was good enough! Remy suddenly jumped up, having an idea, and ran right out of the store. The others followed quickly, terrified as to what he might do.

He ran up to a poster that had all their names, and a few marks by Remy’s, and tore it off its lamppost. Bear in mind this was at about 8pm, so it was pretty dark out. So all the others got a bit of a shock when Remy tore the flyer to shreds, yelling as loud as he could, 

“YEAH, FUCK YOU POSTER!” Thomas saw some lights in nearby houses turn on, and had to try and drag Remy back to the store. Emphasis on ‘try,’ because he wasn’t making it easy to catch him. He was running around to every lamppost with the flyer he could find, and ripped the paper in half. He also urged Roman to join in, but after a stern look from Logan, he decided not to. 

 

 

Eventually, Remy got tired of running around. So he allowed Thomas, and everyone else at this point, to walk him back to the cafe. When they got back, they all made a hot chocolate (Patton’s idea) and sat around the table once again.

“Remy, you know we love you and all that crap, but don’t do that again, for the love of God...” Roman said. He was still worn out after chasing Remy, he was technically the one who caught him, around half the town. Remy stuck his tongue out at him. However, Roman’s claims were met with many tired nods of agreement, so Remy instead rank his hot cocoa... and burned his tongue because it had only just been made and was scalding hot.

 

So there you have it. The shop, and workers, may go through some...weird and tough times, but they’ll keep going.

The Upbeat Caffeine and everyone who worked there, would be just fine.

 

For now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to add in my own OC (Sandra) tell me what you think of her!  
> I hope you like this because I like writing them!
> 
> I know this chapter is a bit weird but... it was fun to write so I posted it anyways


	7. Popularity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The staff at The Upbeat Caffine don’t want to get that close to being fired again. So, they try and promote the shop a bit more!  
> I legit had to think of songs at three am, making them sing about coffee...  
> Enjoy!  
> (Or don’t, I won’t force you)

It was early, before the store opened, and everyone was crowded round a table, similar to yesterday. Well, almost everyone.

“Okay guys, who wants what? Hurry up or you _will_ just get an empty cup!” Remy yelled from the kitchen.

“Caramel Macchiato, please Rem!”

“I will have a small black coffee, please.”

“Oh! Oh! Can I have mine and Patton’s drink we made? The toffee and vanilla latte!”

“Oh, ill have that as well, thanks Kiddo!”

“I’ll have a large black coffee. Thanks Rem.”

 

After about six minutes, Remy walked out carrying six drinks, including his own. He gave everyone their drink and pulled an extra chair over to the table.

“So, what’s up Thomas? Said you wanted to talk to us?” Remy said, sipping his coffee.

“Yeah Rem. Okay, so I was thinking last night- Virgil say _nothing-“ “_ You’re never letting that go, are you?” “Anyway, I thought; we wouldn’t want what happened yesterday to happen again, right? So, maybe we should try publicising ourselves a bit more! We could all try different ways of showing off the shop, and sees who gets the most customers from it. It’ll be similar to a few days ago, in that you can have a partner if you want one. I think this’ll be fun, so I might join in, but then we’ll need to find someone to be judge-“ Thomas, if you don’t mind, I think I would like to be the judge.” Logan said, placing his half-empty cup on the table. Thomas looked over at him with a confused expression.

“Are you sure Logan?” “Probably just doesn’t wanna lose again-“ “Remy, hush. Anyway, in this instance, yes I would prefer to be the judge.” Thomas nodded at him and smiled. 

“Wait, how are you gonna know who brought in which customer?” Asked Virgil.

“Well, that should be simple enough. I shall just have to ask how they heard about this. Then whoever’s method they say, will get a point.”

 

 

“Okay, so who’s gonna do what?” Thomas asked.

“Can I put up some flyers? They might be easier to see and people will be more likely to see them.” Patton said. Remy twitched at the word “Flyer.” Thomas nodded happily. 

“Okay! I think I’ll just go around town and tell people about us.”

“I’ll go on our Instagram and Twitter pages!” Remy said loudly.

“I’ll.. go on Tumblr I guess.” Virgil muttered.

“Aww, I wanted to go on Instagram! Well, I guess I shall have to.. uh.. wait- what can I do?” Roman asked. The others looked at each other, trying hard to think of different things.

“You could just, not do anything-“ “ _Remy-“ “Okay!”_

“Why don’t you just do some busking?” Virgil murmured sarcastically. He was kidding, but the others turned towards him suddenly.

“That’s...not a bad idea actually. I could do that!” “I was joking-“ “I could recreate some songs so I’m singing about the store! Good thinking Virgil!” Virgil shut his mouth, just in case any snarky comments decide to try and slip out. The others all started talking again.

“Alright, is that everyone? Okay, I think for this challenge we should have two days. That day be enough time, right? Should we do a reward?” Thomas inquired. Everyone nodded. Who wouldn’t want a reward for promoting their work?

“Well, what should the reward be? One of you could get a raise- no. Uhh.. You know what? We’ll figure it out when the time comes.” And so, they started prepping for the next couple days.

 

 

It was the next day. Patton collected the rest of the flyers from the printer and looked over them. They were quite pretty, with designs swirling and looping on the front. He got his jacket and walked out of the shop, obviously telling Thomas where he was going first. Patton wandered around the town, every so often stopping at a lamppost to put a leaflet on it. What made him feel really excited was, one time when he was walking away from a leaflet, he saw someone else wander up to it to read it. Well, that was a good start! It was a pretty sunny day, and it was nice to just walk around the town and get out of the shop for a little while. The shop was quite an open space, but it could get pretty rowdy, especially with his coworkers. So the constant bustle of traffic was a calming downgrade, however strange that sounds.

Once he had put up all of the flyers, Patton walked back to the store. He had to admit, from where he was standing, he did like the look of the store. The shop’s name written in big bold letters at the front, little hanging flower baskets on either side of the glass door. Patton remembered, at first he really didn’t like the name. He never knew why, it just really didn’t appeal to him. But over time, he grew to love it. He walked back inside.

 

 

Remy and Virgil’s job was by far the easiest. All they had to do was sit at one of the many tables, pull out their phone or laptop, and get to work. As said, Virgil was on Tumblr, and Remy would be on Instagram and Twitter. Because of this, they were kind of like partners, but not officially. They were both sat together at one of the tables near the front windows, both on their phones. To any member of the public, they probably just looked like they were slacking off work. But no, they were actually pretty busy promoting the store. Unfortunately for Virgil, Remy was having a bit more luck. But that was only becuase the shop’s Twitter was used a heck of a lot more than the Tumblr, so it was pretty unfair. But Virgil wasn’t complaining just yet; he was still getting a decent amount of likes on al, the posts. It was pretty comfortable, just sitting in the quiet shop, coffees on the table. They weren’t really talking, well, Virgil wasn’t. But every time got a retweet on Twitter or something, he would gloat to Virgil until Virgil was was writing on his phone where the best place to hide a body was.  ~~Dumpster.~~  

 

 

_This is so much fun!_  Roman thought as he sang the song he had prepared. He had decided to pick a few well-known songs, and change them so they fitted his mission perfectly. But that part of the process was long and tedious. He had spent a few hours at the cafe after closing time, thinking of songs. Remy had chosen to stay with him, just in case anything bizarre happened. But then again, Remy is the more immature of the two, so it was unclear as to why he stayed... Well, let’s just say, it was a good thing Roman was surrounded by coffee that night. But anyways, back to now.

Roman was busy singing his version of the vine “Hey, how ya doing?” It went something like this;

Hey, how ya doing?

A bit sleep deprived?

It’s fine,

Just visit sometime!

While standing next to a sign that read “The Upbeat Caffine!” And some details about the shop. Every so often, someone would look over at the sign, or smile at Roman’s (Pretty good) singing, before continuing to walk away. He hoped that meant they might visit sometime. Roman was just finishing up “A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes” when he saw Thomas amongst the crowd, talking to people.

 

 

Thomas was talking to a sweet old lady about the shop, trying to explain what time it opens at, when he head a voice singing:

Caffine is a drink your brain needs,

When you’re half-asleep~

Got a paper due tomorrow?

Dont drown yourself in sorrow!

Becuase Caffine will not let, you sleep~

 

Yep. That’s Roman alright. Thomas walked over to the source of the noise which, sure enough, was Roman. He was singing sweetly as people walked past him, determined not to be pulled over by either of the two men. Which was weird, Becuase Thomas was only talking to the poeple who walked up to _him._ But, whatever.

“Hey Roman! How ya doing?” Roman held up a thumb before finishing the song. He then turned to Thomas, smiling widely.

“Greetings, Thomas! I am excellent! How are you doing? I just finished my last song for the second time in a row and I may have lost my voice. Do you wanna head back to the shop now?” Roman said, in his usual grand tone of voice.

“Sure bud! I’m just about done too. I’ve talked to so many people today. Seriously.” Roman laughed and started to walk back to the cafe with Thomas beside him. They were talking quietly, and there was a calming feeling in the air. It was somewhat quiet, but then again, it was about 6:30 So..

When they got back, everyone was still there, doing their own thing.

“Okay Guys! Day one is now over! Logan, how are the results looking so far? Or d’ya think we should wait till tomorrow?” Thomas announced. Logan looked up from the front counter and smiled.

“Hello Thomas. Roman. Well, I can tell you the results right now if you want. Right now:

Remy has had 4 visitors,

Virgil had 5,

Roman had 7,

Thomas and Patton both have 8.”

Thomas and Patton high-fived gleefully.

“Don’t get too happy. It’s only the first day.” Remy said sourly. Roman smirked.

“Aww, is someone bitter that they didn’t win?” Okay, that felt way too Deja-vu for Remy’s liking.

“Fuck you.” Roman fake-gasped. “Remy, such _language!”_

“Okay, okay, settle down you guys. Remy’s right though; it is only the first day still. We still have all of tomorrow to compete and win this. The scores are all super close, it’s anyone’s game, really.”

“That is not comforting in the slightest.”

 

 

It was the afternoon of the next day (time flies, huh?) and Logan was sat at the front counter. He had been on front desk for most of today and yesterday. Which made sense, him being in charge of keeping track of people. But that didn’t make it anymore interesting.

“Hello, welcome to The Upbeat Caffine. If I may ask, how did you hear about us?” Logan asked subconsciously, eyes half-closed.

“Is everyone forgetting me now? im a regular Logan, look up.” Logan snapped his head up to see Sandra at the shop once again.

“Oh, Hello Mrs. Truman. I apologise, what can I get you?”

“Just my usual is fine, dear. And I’ve told you already, just call me Sandra.” After making Sandra’s drink, Logan handed it to her.

“So, why did you ask me how I heard about you? ...This isn’t another competition, is it?”

“I’m afraid it is. My coworkers are trying to promote the store and it is my job to keep track of everything. We will announce the results tomorrow morning, I imagine.” 

“Oh, Okay! I’ll help! I know some friends who could use some coffee right about now. Including you, apparently dear. Well, until next time Logan.” Sandra started walking away.

“Oh, Sandra? If you are going to tell people about us, would you mind coming in at around 9am tomorrow? I think it would be interesting to see the others’ reaction to you giving a helping hand.” Sandra nodded and shuffled over to her table. Okay, now Logan was slightly more excited. It’d be an experience to see everyone’s reaction to this.

 

 

It was the end of the day, and Logan had dealt with countless people. Suprisingly, most of them were from either Patton or Thomas. And at the moment, it seemed as though Virgil would lose. Everyone returned from their activities and were packing up to leave. 

“Alright guys competition over! Mostly. Anyways, I think we should wait until tomorrow morning instead of evening for Logan to announce the results. That okay Logan?” Logan nodded. Well, that went exactly according to plan. Now that it was the end of the day, everyone slowly started filing out of the store. They all started on their walks (or drives) home. Logan decided he wanted to tell one of the others about the whole ordeal with Sandra earlier. He settled on telling Virgil; he was the most trustworthy person there. Probably. He caught up to Virgil, and fell into step with him, planning out what he was going to say. They both lived in the same apartment block, so they normally caught up with each other anyways.

“Salutations, Virgil. You remember Sandra, correct?” 

“Course, she’s a regular. And, weird conversation starter.”

“Well, she’s the topic of the conversation, so it would only make sense to start by talking about her.”

“Okay, I get it. Anyway, what about her?” Virgil was slightly confused. What’s with the sudden interest in old Mrs. Truman?

“She’s participating in our competition. Unknowingly.” Virgil stopped dead in his tracks. What did he just say?

“What? What do you mean?” 

“Well, she is spreading the word about our cafe to her friends, so I thought it would be fitting to include her. I asked her to come in earlier tomorrow. Just so she could see the results. That, and everyone’s reaction to seeing her there.” Virgil laughed. They got to the apartment block and headed to their own rooms.

“Goodnight Virgil.”

“See ya, Logan.” 

“Wait- could you-“

“Not tell anyone about Sandra? Got it, see ya.” Logan smiled and walked away.

 

 

The next morning, everyone had their normal coffees, and were all sat comfortably at different tables, with Logan at the counter. He walked over with a small notebook, which he had written the results down in. 

“Okay, good morning everyone. I assume you would all like to hear the results now?”

“That’d be great, Lo!” Thomas smiled at him sleepily. He had been slightly late, due to his phone alarm being set for the wrong time. But he managed to run in just in time. The shop wasn’t open yet, it would be in about five minutes, but it was nice to be organised, y’know?

“Very well. The final results are:

Virgil with 12,

Remy with 14,

Roman with 17,

And Patton and Thomas are tied with 19. Oh, and Sandra has 9.”

“Sandra? Why Sandra?” “Yes, why me indeed?” Everyone whipped around to see Mrs, Truman herself standing at the front entrance, a smile stretched across her face. Thomas jumped but still greeted Sandra with his usual smile.

“I’m sorry Sandra, I didn’t see you there! Logan, what do you mean, Sandra got nine customers?” Logan smiled and began his explanation.

“Yesterday, Sandra came in. We conversed as normal, but she told me she’d help promote our store. Later in the evening, she messaged me, telling me how many of her friends of hrs visited the store. Though, I already knew, Becuase I asked who told them about our cafe, of course.” Sandra stuck her tongue out at him, making Remy laugh.

“She’s helped the store, she can use social media, _and_ she’s just as petty with Logan as I am! Is there anything this woman can’t do?!” He exclaimed making everyone laugh.

“Remy’s right though; you did help us a lot. For that, you can have your normal coffee, on the house.” Thomas said, and walked to the back of the store to make it. 

 

 

“Wait, weren’t the winners getting a prize? What are you getting, you two?” Mrs. Truman asked, after sitting down at her table, just as the store opened.

“I don’t really care for the prize, I would have to pay for it anyways, I imagine. So Patton can choose. Patton? What do you want as a reward?” Patton walked over. He thought about itmfor a minute. He then grinned cheerfully.

“I don’t mind, Thomas! I didn’t do this for the prize, I did it for the experience!” Thomas shook his head fondly.

“That...was the most cliche sentence I’ve ever heard.. I love it.” 

 

And there you have it. Was that a complete waste of two days? Up to interpretation, really. But did they enjoy it? Of course! So that makes it worth it, right?

 

And who knows what’ll happen next?..

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me any ideas you have for this story. And hey, maybe leave a kudo or two, and tell me how I did! I love writing this story, it’s so much fun to do. So if you want me to continue, I will! :)


	8. Unwelcome

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings!:  
> Homophobia, a crap ton of swearing, and sass. That is all
> 
> I was discussing this topic with my family late one night and I was genuinely awake till 3am thinking of insults to say to a homophobic person XD  
> Just saying, I do not condone this type of behaviour and it was awful to write such homophobic slurs, but it does get better in the next chapter.  
> Hope you enjoy!  
> (Or if not, that’s fine too. :) )

Everybody that went to The Upbeat Caffine knew that the staff were gay, and they were all fine with it. The old ladies still sometimes pointlessly flirted with them and gossiped, because that just what old ladies do. They would chat for hours on end with Roman and especially Remy, about cute guys, and the two were more than happy to comply. What they hardly ever had though, was a rude customer. Sure, they’d have the grumpy morning people who would leave the cafe with a snarky comment, but they were never that bad. One time one of the customers even came back later in the day to apologise for their behaviour. But they’ve never had anyone be rude about their sexuality. There may have been a homophobe in the past, but they never said anything if they were. Until today, that is.

 

 

Unfortunately, the only person on front counter was Patton, because Virgil was called to the back to help with a complicated coffee order. Now, as you may have figured out by now, Patton is the most sensitive person out of the others. He takes words to heart a lot, causing him to get hurt easier. So, when a man came in, about early-30s, Patton greeted them with a cheerful smile. The man frowned back and ordered a large black coffee. Patton put the order out to Roman, as it was pretty easy, and he was in the back. Roman accepted the order with his usual gusto, making everything 10 times more dramatic than it needed to be. 

 

 

The man looked into the back at Roman, frown still on his face and getting bigger by the minute. He turned back to Patton,

“He a Fag or somethin?” Patton flinched at that word. He hated it, and he wasn’t one for hating things. Carefully regaining his happy composure, and looked at the man, smile still somewhat present.

“He’s gay, if that’s what you mean. Is there a problem with that?” He asked. The man’s frown once again grew bigger as he glared at the barista in front of him.

“What, you a Faggot too? Ugh, I bet everyone here is, aren’t they? Gonna go make out in the back or somethin?” Okay, Patton was either about to cry, or run away from the man and never look back. No imbetween. But just then, Virgil walked out.

 

 

 

Virgil was _fuming._ He had heard the entire conversation, and was planning on confronting the man to see what the hell his problem was. He had no right to walk in here, and say that kind of thing! And to Patton, none the less! He walked out to the front of the store briskly, the idiot’s coffee in his hand. When he saw that the man was still picking on Patton, he settled on killing the guy instead. Due to Virgil’s intimidating appearance, the guys sort of just stared at Virgil, before going back to his I’m-a-piece-of-crap persona. He glowered at Virgil. Virgil glared back and stood next to Patton at the front desk.

“Here’s your coffee.” The man took it and sniffed suspiciously. Virgil was now caught between confusion and amusement. 

“Okay, what are you doing?” The man glared at Virgil.

“Making sure you Fags have to poisoned it.” Well, never mind confusion and amusement, now it was anger and skepticism.

“Sir, calling us Fags really isn’t nessecary. Unless you use that nickname for everyone, which would just be rude.”

“What, you’re not straight! It’s not normal!” Now Virgil was getting more and more agitated.

“Yeah, well neither are your teeth. Yet here we are.” He quickly began talking to Patton after giving the guy his drink, not knowing what Remy had done to it. See, unbeknownst to the others, Remy had heard what that moron had said to Patton, and didn’t like it. And so, he sprinkled in a pinch of salt into the man’s drink without anyone noticing.

 

 

 

So, when Remy heard sputtering in the front of the store, he decided that _maybe_ e could take a quick break now instead of later. _Sure._ Wandering casusally out front, Remy saw the man accusing Virgil of poisoning his drink. Virgil was rolling his eyes and sighing heavily. Hot coffee was dribbling down the man’s front now; his shirt was gone at this point.

“Do you need a bib, Sir?” Remy asked, as innocently as he could. The customer glared at him and muttered,

“Fuck off, Fag.” _Jeez, and Patton had to deal with this guy_ alone? Remy thought. All the same, he internally laughed at how easy it would be to sass this guy.

“Are those the only words you know how to say?” Remy began, “Because ever since you came in here, it’s all you’ve been able to do it seems, insult people. So, let me go over my notes quickly,” Remy then licked his finger and turned a page of a phantom notebook, “One: You have the vocabulary size of a five year old. Two: You can’t even drink properly- by the way, do you still want a bib for that? Oh, and Three: You appear to be a very small minded person. Yep, you’re an infant. But then again, _any_ infant would be nicer than you.” Okay, he may have made the situation worse, but it’s was worth it. And now the man was legitimately growling.

 

 

 

Logan walked out into the store. Even though he hadn’t heard the entire story, he’d heard that douche insulting his coworkers, and that was _not_ okay. Even though he was just about seething with rage, he kept his composure. When Logan got angry, it was a terrifying time. He’s probably the one who causes the earthquakes.

“What seems to be the problem?” He asked calmly. The man glanced at him when entered before reverting his attention back to the others.

“Your stupid coworkers are insulting me! Sayin I have a small vo- vocabry or somethin.” Logan sighed lightly.

“Well, I will take that statement with a pinch of salt.” Remy stifled his laughter quietly behind his hand before realising: _Wait, hw did Logan know about that?_

“Because from what I’ve gathered so far, they are telling the truth. I see no problem here.” The others internally gasped at Logan. Okay, it was getting harder for Remy not to laugh. But once again, the man only got more agitated.

 

 

 

“Whoa, whoa, _WHOA! What_ is going on here?” Thomas yelled. He and Roman had just walked into the room after hearing the commotion. The man was refusing to leave, demanding that he see the manager. Thomas decided not to tell him yet. The man turned away from the others and saw Thomas.

“I’ll tell ya what’s been goin on! They have been constantly insulting me! I bet your manager’s a right piece of shit to hire you lot. In fact I don’t bet, I know! What kind of a manager is he?” Logan’s eye twitched when he saw Thomas slightly hunch in on himself sadly. And apparently he wasn’t the only one. Everyone’s eyes darkened after hearing that statement. But the guy still didn’t notice. Roman stepped forward.

“How _dare_ you. You do not, do _not,_ talk about our manager like that. You walked into this shop by your own choice, and you’re gonna be the one to walk out of it, too.” A brief flash of recognition crossed the guy’s face.

“Oh, you’re the Queer from earlier, prancin round the kitchen. Why you standing up for the manager then, eh? He your boyfriend? So, which of you’s the girl of the relationship? Haha, well, I’m not leaving till I see the manager.”

“I am the manager. You’ve seen me. Get out.” Thomas said, stepping in front of Roman. He was almost part of the counter at this point, but that didn’t matter. His hands were shaking, but the others didn’t know if it was because of anger or sadness. But somehow, the guy was still adamant that he was right. _Yeesh, this guy just doesn’t know when to stop, does he?_ Virgil thought.

“Y’know, you don’t have a right to be here. Gays aren’t welcome in this town, so bugger off.” Logan couldn’t stand it anymore, and finally stepped in.

“Sir, this is not your place to say that to anyone in this store. You have no right to. Now, I suggest you leave, otherwise people may think your trying, and failing, to flirt. Which is no bad thing of course, but it might damage your inflated ego a bit, don’t you think?”

But that didn’t deter the man too much. The guy stepped forward threateningly, ready to make his way around the counter, when someone else joined in.

 

 

 

 _SLAP!_ The man felt a thump round the back of his head, he whipped his head around to see an old woman standing there, rage etched onto her face. She was slightly shorter than the man, but she still managed to reach the back of his head perfectly. When she hit the guy, he stumbled about half a foot forwards, but sadly stayed standing. The woman was shaking her head, glaring daggers at the guy.

“How dare you. I’ve never met a man as small minded as you. And trust me, I’ve met a lot of people in my time. Just because  those boys are gay makes them no less of a man than you are. In fact, it makes them more of a man than _you_ could ever be! I don’t know, or care, if you’re angry about something else right now, but that gives you no right to take it out on these lovely boys, so stop. Now, we’ve told you once and we’ll tell you again. _Get OUT.”_

Everyone was stunned. The man turned around to the 5 boys again, and spat. It landed directly on Remy’s jacket. The man walked out. Virgil slowly turned his head towards Remy next to him.

“Uh... Rem?” Remy jumped over the counter with lightning speed. But the man was already out the door, with the old woman right next to it. Virgil ran over to him.

“Logan, come help before he rips the guy’s head off!” Logan and Virgil caught up to Remy in the doorway. They both grabbed his arms to stop him running away, while trying to reassure him. And failing.

“That _BASTARD!_ He spit on my favourite jacket! I’ll fucking _KILL HIM!”_ The old woman walked over to Remy, and began talking.

“Remy, love. If you chase after him now, he’ll have won. Because that’s what he wants you to do, so just leave it for now. A jacket can be cleaned up easily, a murder scene can’t.” After much reassurance from the other three, Remy relaxed, much to Logan and Virgil’s relief.

 

 

With Remy calmed down, the old woman walked over to a still shocked Thomas and Roman.

“ _S-Sandra!?”_

“Now, how many times am I gonna have to save you lot this week then, hmm?” Sandra said, a cheeky smile on her face. Thomas shook his head, waking himself up, and looked around.

“Wait- Where’s Pat?” Virgil, Logan and Remy walked over, also concerned. They spent about three minutes looking before Virgil heard something. A choked sob. Virgil rushed into the kitchen to see Patton sat on one of the countertops, shoulders shaking and his hands over his face.

“Guys! He’s in here! Pat, are you okay?” Patton lifted his hands to reveal his red face, he had obviously been crying. The others came in and rushed over to Patton, including Sandra, who Thomas said was allowed in just this once.

“You alright Patton?”

“That asshole’s been taken care of now.” 

“Yeah! Sandra told him off real good!” Patton wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, bottom lip trembling. Thomas was pretty sure he felt his heart shatter at the sight.

“I-I don't know why people can’t j-just get along! I-I thought he’d be a nice customer, but then he started shouting at me...” Patton trailed off.

“Okay, maybe it was a bad idea to let him go.” Virgil said, glaring and kicking at the floor. Thomas gave him a stern look, which was suprising for him, and turned back to Patton.

“Trust me buddy, I don’t know why either. I wish people could get along happily, but it can’t always be like that I guess. It’s fine though, I don’t think he’ll be coming back for a while, thanks to Sandra.” Patton gave him a watery smile, glasses misted over still, but stayed on the counter. Sandra laughed lightly, thinking back to a couple minutes ago.

“Hey, what day is it today?”

“It is Saturday, Thomas.”

“Well, the shop’ll be closed tomorrow, right? So why don’t we all go out for the day tomorrow? Me and Roman were gonna go dye our hair actually, so you can all come now! Is that okay with everyone else?” Logan pulled out a small notebook from his pocket and flipped through.

“Sunday... Yes, I should be free tomorrow, so I shall attend. Though, I apologise if I decide not to dye my hair too.”

Remy beamed, “Sure, I’ll be there! Sounds fun. But I do need to clean my jacket first..”

Virgil nodded, “Yeah, I’ll come. May as well, not like I’d be doing anything else anyways.”

Patton started to regain his usual cheery grin. He looked around to see Sandra walking out.

“Are you okay, Sandra?” She looked over at him and smiled, “Shouldn’t I be asking you that? Nah, I’m fine Love. I’ll leave you all to it. Have fun tomorrow though!” They all waved goodbye to her. It was only then that Thomas realised the time. 

“Oh shoot! Okay, time to pack up guys! Jeez, we had hardly any customers thanks to that jerk.” So they all packed up, got their bags, and said good bye before heading out.

“So, you are all coming tomorrow, right?” Thomas’ question was met with five nods of affirmation. He grinned and let everyone go.

 

 

Well, wasn’t that a.. tiring day? But Pattons okay now and hey, tomorrow sounds like a heap of fun!

But until then, they all went to their houses and wondered what the next day would entail.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Give me ideas for more chapters! I have a couple lined up, but if you suggest any good ones, then they will more than likely end up in this mess of a story.  
> Comment so I know that you’re all alive and well!  
> (I would just like to point out, I said they were all gay, but if you want to know, Logan is Ace, as is Patton.)
> 
> Bye!


	9. Someone’s Gonna Dye!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry this was this late! I was on holiday and got back late on Friday, and then I’ve been ill for the past few days. I haven’t been able to write anything, it was TORTURE XD  
> It’s been a while since I’ve written fluff, forgive me.
> 
> WARNINGS  
> Swearing.  
> (Just saying, a lot of this story is dialogue. Like, a lot.)
> 
> Enjoy!  
> Or don’t, whatever.

It was the day after “The Incident” as everyone had started calling it. Even though it was quite early in the morning, the majority of the staff had already arrived, gotten coffee and sat down. But right now they were waiting for Virgil and Remy to wake up and get to the shop. 

“I knocked on Virgil’s apartment door before I left. No answer.” Logan stated, stirring his coffee slowly.

“Well, they might want to hurry. We’re gonna go soon-“

Just as Thomas said that, Remy and Virgil both burst through the door. Virgil looked a lot more panicked than Remy, who had casually wandered in on his phone. 

“Sorry Thomas! I don’t have an alarm set for Sundays. I literally woke up 10 minutes ago.” 

“At least you’re both here now. Now, is everyone here?..” Thomas did a quick headcount, “Yep. Okay, Virgil and Remy grab a coffee if you want one, then we’ll head out.” 

“So hurry up!” Roman shouted from his table. Virgil looked over at him, eyebrow raised.

“Morning to you too, Princey. And, just because you said that, I’m gonna go extra slowly now.”

“Noooo...”

 

 

Soon they got their coffees, and they all walked out the store, but not before flipping the sign to closed. 

“So, what are we doing today, Thomas?” Patton asked cheerfully. Thomas smiled back at him.

“Well Pat, I know we’re dying our hair today at some point. Well, I should, considering I’m paying for it. But I think we’ll just figure it out as we go along. That okay?” Patton grinned.

“Wait, why’re you paying for everyone?” Roman asked.

“I thought it would be fun! But if you don’t like that idea, just consider it as a sort of uniform!” Roman nodded at that.

They continued into town.

 

 

”Where do you all wanna go?” Thomas questioned, looking round at the others.

“Don’t you think we should dye our hair first, Thomas?”

“Oh yeah, good point Virgil! Okay, we’ll go there now.”

Everyone nodded, well except for Logan, and headed towards their usual barbers. The building was pretty small, but had about 4 barber chairs near the back. Despite it being a small space, it was quite an airy, open area, with the door usually open and big bay windows at the front. A bell above the front door jingled as they walked in. 

 

 

“You are dying your hair, right Logan?” Roman said, sidling up to him. Logan sighed slightly.

“I doubt it Roman. I’d rather not.” 

“C’mon Lo, you get to pick your own colour and everything!”

“Well Virgil, that colour will be the one already there,” Logan gestured to his chocolate coloured hair. “As I said, I doubt I will dye my hair today.”

“Doubt doesn’t mean no!”

“It doesn’t mean yes either!”

“But Logan, it’s fun! Don’t be a downer!” Great. Now Remy was joining in.

“Emotional blackmail does not work on me, Remy.”

 

 

Okay, Logan was getting kinda pissed off now. _Everyone_ had been peer pressuring and blackmailing him for the past 5 minutes. That doesn’t sound like very long, but with barbers just standing there waiting for you to decide, it’s frustrating. Well, everyone except Patton and Thomas, who were just watching the scene play out. It was then that Patton stepped towards Logan, a hopeful expression on his face. If only Logan had gone with his instincts and ran.

“Please, Logan? It’ll be fun, I promise.” He said quietly. 

Fuck. Logan couldn’t say no now, could he? The day was kinda meant to cheer Patton up, among other things, and he didn’t want to stop that. Logan crossed his arms and huffed loudly.

“Fine, But I would appreciate it if I went first.” The others cheered and let him sit down in the barber chair. It was the least they could’ve done after pressuring him so much. 

 

 

“Wait, what colour is everyone having?” Thomas inquired.

“Can I have like, a turquoise? That’d be so pretty!” Patton beamed.

“I’ll get purple, I guess.” Virgil said.

“I kinda wanna get rainbow- You know what? Yeah, I’ll get rainbow!” Thomas grinned.

“Bagsie red!” Remy yelled, making the poor barber jump.

“No... I wanted red!” Roman whined. Thomas tried to step in to diffuse the situation before it escalated. Roman and Remy were both _very_ stubborn people, and wouldn’t back out easily.

“Well, you could both have red-“

“No, we _can’t,_ Thomas!” They both exclaimed dramatically. While those two were arguing, Thomas turned to Logan, who was sat in one of the chairs.

“What about you Logan?”

“Uh- I think Royal blue. Not too bright, obviously.”

 

 

Eventually, Roman begrudgingly backed out, allowing Remy to be the one to get red hair. But not without a melodramatic huff and arm-cross. 

“Okay, well there are like, 3 chairs. So this will take a while, there being 6 of us.”

Logan, Patton and Remy sat down in the chairs first, while Thomas, Virgil and Roman stood by the front windows, chatting.

“You nervous, Virge?” Thomas asked.

“Haha, not really. Looking forward too it actually.” Virgil admitted, smiling a little at Thomas.

“Welp, sit tight. I’m gonna go see how the others are doing.” With that, Thomas wandered over to the chairs where his friends sat. Patton was almost shaking with excitment, much to his barber’s distress. He was also chatting with Logan, who just looked unimpressed at this point. And Remy was just sat on his phone, every so often answering a random question Patton shot his way. 

“Hey Rem, how ya doin?” Thomas asked. Remy turned his head slightly, but didn’t take his eyes off of his phone.

“Hey Gurl, I’m good. When is this gonna be done?” 

“About 10 minutes.” The barber cut in.

“Well, there you go. I’m gonna go talk to the others.”

“Be careful talking to Logan,” Remy said quietly, “He might harm someone at any moment. The only reason he’s not stabbing Patton right now is because he’s... Well, Patton. Hence why I’m not talking to him.” He laughed. 

“I’ll be careful.” When Thomas walked away, Remy saluted him, careful not to touch his wet hair.

 

 

“You okay, Lo?” Logan turned his head to see Thomas standing there. 

“Hello, Thomas. Yes, I am fine.”

“Well, Uh. You’ll be done in about 5 minutes apparently. It’ll look awesome, I swear. Oh, and thanks for doing this.” Logan smiled slightly.

“Trust me Thomas. I wouldn’t have done this if I really, really didn’t want to. It is a permanent decision, after all.”

Thomas smiled at him happily and walked back over to the others, thanking the Lord that interaction was short. Nobody wanted to test Logan’s patience at the minute, but it was good to hear that Logan was okay with this. That made Thomas feel a bit better.

 

 

In about 5 minutes Logan, Remy and Patton were finished. They got up from the chairs and were met by the others basically swarming them, admiring their new hair.

“You look awesome, guys!” Thomas exclaimed. Pattons hair was a bright turquoise blue, and very fluffy due to it just being washed. Remy’s a vibrant crimson red, it really suited him. (Que Roman huffing in the background.) And Logan’s hair was a brilliant Royal blue. They did look really cool.  

After another hour of waiting Thomas, Roman and Virgil finished theirs too. One thing everyone could agree on, was that Thomas’ hair was by far the most vivid of everyone’s. His hair was a full-on rainbow. Roman had a fiery orange, which actually looked really good. And Virgil had a deep sort of magenta-purple. Thomas paid (obviously) and the 6 guys walked out of the store with their new colourful hair.

 

 

It was about midday now, and now they had to find something else to do. But they didn’t really decide on where they were going, they kinda just started walking. Everyone was so focused on talking that they didn’t process where they were until Patton sprinted forwards. 

“ _Ice cream!!”_ He yelled. 

“He is literally a child!” Virgil whisper-shouted to Thomas, who just shrugged and laughed. “Aww, leave him be. Let’s go get an ice cream, come on. You all brought money, right?” Everyone said yes and strolled over to the ice cream truck, where Patton was already waiting.

“Hi, we’d like 6 ice creams please. What flavour do you all want?” Thomas asked, turning to everyone else behind him.

“Strawberry! Thanks Kiddo!” 

“I’m not your son. Umm, I’ll have banana scoop please.”

“Chocolate. Thanks.”

“I will have Vanilla, thank you good sir!” 

“Oh, uhh- Toffee. Thanks!”

“I will have mint-chocolate-chip, please.” 

Everyone paid for their ice cream and looked for somewhere to sit. They found a dog park nearby, and tried to figure out a way to sit on a 3-person bench. Remy sat on the end of the bench first. But just as he pulled his phone from his pocket, he felt a shove and landed on the soft grass. Remy looked up at the person who pushed him.

“Roman, you Bitch!” He shrieked, as Roman sat down in his spot. Roman just laughed and scooted up so Remy could sit by him. Remy huffed half-heartedly, but sat by him anyway. Patton, Virgil and Thomas plopped down on the ground next to the bench.

 

 

For a moment they all just sat, eating ice cream and watching strangers’ dogs run around, until Remy broke the silence quite suddenly.

“I’m going on holiday for two weeks.” 

Everyone snapped their heads in his direction, “What?”

“Well, I told Thomas already, but I won’t be here for like, two weeks.” 

“Where are you going?” Patton asked.

“Me and my sister are going to Tokyo!”

“My sister and I-“

“Hush Logan! When are you leaving?- Wait, you have a sister?”

“Tomorrow.” Remy laughed at everyone’s suprised faces. Well, everyone’s except Thomas. 

 

 

After much hanging out in the park and walking around town, it was now about 3 in the afternoon.

“Is everyone ready to head back?” Thomas asked. They nodded, so they all wandered back to The Upbeat Caffine to get their bags. After grabbing their belongings, Patton thought of something.

“Hey guys, guess we really are The _Upbeat_ Caffine now, huh?” He said, gesturing to everyone’s upbeat-looking hair. Even though it wasn’t the funniest joke ever, they all laughed anyways.

 

 

What a nice improvement to the day before, am I right?

But, I wonder how they’ll all deal with Remy not being there for two whole weeks?..

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it weird I kinda want to introduce Emile Picani into this? Tell me what you think!  
> Also, give me any ideas you may have for this story, becuase they will more than likely end up in this mess! XD
> 
> (I have been so busy lately, I have forgotten how to paragraph. Forgive me for this sin.
> 
> Bye! :)  
> (My brother thought of this title. He’s totally a mass murderer)


	10. Holiday!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS:  
> Well, it has Remy, and his sister in it. There’s gonna be swearing. A lot.
> 
> Hey guys! Look at me uploading on time! But.., I have a confession to make: there will only be about three or four more chapters of this story. Traumatising, I know XD.  
> But no, I hope you like this story!  
> This chapter is more filler than anything, but there are some parts in this story that are important, so...
> 
> Enjoy!  
> (Or don’t, I won’t force you :) )

**R: “Hey, is it okay if I bring my sis to the store?”**

**T: “Sure Rem! But at 5 in the morning?”**

**R: “Yeah Gurl! 10 hour flight.”**

**T: “Fair enough. Do you want the others here, so you can say Gbye?”**

**R: “Sure.”**

 

Thomas took a sip from his coffee and sighed. He had to try and wake up one of the others at 5 in the morning, and by text? Highly unlikely. Now, who was the most likely to be awake at this hour? Roman? No, beauty sleep and all that. Logan? Hmm... maybe. Thomas reached for his phone and sent a quick text to him.

 

**T: “Hey Logan, you awake?”**

**L: “I am. What do you require?”**

**T: “Can you wake Virgil up and come to the cafe?”**

**L: “Of course. But why, if I may ask?”**

**T: “Remy’s gonna be here in a couple minutes with his sister. He wanted to say Gbye to you all”**

**L: “Okay, but I blame you for any damage Virgil may cause.”**

**T: “That’s fair”**

 

 

Logan had to go and wake Virgil up?! He didn’t have a death wish yet! But he’d have to go though, wouldn’t he? Otherwise Virgil might sleep till midday. So, he walked out of the safety of his apartment with his keys, wallet and shin pads over to Virgil’s apartment door. He knocked crisply on the door and waited. After about 5 minutes he realised Virgil probably wouldn’t answer. Logan pulled out his keys. Luckily, Virgil gave him a spare key, in case of emergencies, seeing as they lived in the same building, it made sense. He opened the door, and walked into the apartment.

 

 

 _How am I supposed to do this?_ Logan thought. Fortunately, Virgil was a light sleeper. Meaning, a light poke and he’d be awake almost instantly. So, he might be able to escape before Virgil could attack him. Logan nodded confidently to himself and approached Virgil’s room.

Unfortunately, it didn’t go as planned. Mainly because Logan didn’t see that Virgil was already awake, curled up on his bed. His eyes might have deceived him, but for a second, it looked as though there was a stream of something on Virgil’s cheek. But before he could properly look, he ended up on the floor with a bright red slap mark on his face. Apparently it wasn’t shinpads he needed.

“Logan, What the hell are you doing here?” Virgil said, rubbing his eyes, getting sleep dust out. Logan shook his head and spoke.

“Apologies. Uh-Thomas said to come get you. Remy’s at the shop with his sister. They’re leaving soon.”

“What?! Why didn’t you say so? Come on!” 

 

 

Soon they arrived at the shop. Virgil felt slightly guilty to see that everyone was already there, including a girl he’d never seen before. She looked very similar to Remy, but instead of sunglasses, she had real ones, as well as mid length brown hair.

“Hey Virge! Logan! This is Emily, my sister!” They smiled and shook hands with Emily, who seemed just as friendly as Remy.

“Are you both coming to the airport?” Thomas asked. 

“Well, I walked here. Mind if I drive with you?” Virgil replied. Thomas nodded, and they all separated into Thomas and Roman’s cars and drove to the airport.

 

 

“Well, we’re here! Make sure to keep in touch!”

“Send pictures!”

“And spend your money wisely!”

“You make it sound as though I’m never coming back! What did you do to the plane?” Remy said, hands on his hips. 

“Remy, don't say that!” Virgil said. Even though it sounded like a joke, Virgil felt anxious suddenly. Oh god, what if someone actually did something to the plane?!

“We’ll be fine!” Emily said kindly to Virgil, shaking her head at Remy, “But we’ll see you all soon!” She and Remy walked into the building, pulling luggage along behind them. The others didn’t stop waving until they were out of sight.

 

After going through airport security and all the boring stuff, Remy and Emily got to the plane.

“Oh yeah, do you mind if I get the window seat?”

“Nah, go ahead Rem.”

 

 

“I am so fuckin _BORED!”_

“Remy, we’ve been on the flight for an hour. It’s a ten hour flight. For the love of God, find something to do.” Emily said, looking away from her laptop at Remy. He was slouching incredibly low in his seat, with only the seatbelt stopping him from sliding onto the floor, like a fussy kid in a car.

“You could just go back to sleep, if you want.”

“Fine, But wake me up when the food thing comes around.”

 

 

Then, after a long and tedious flight, the two arrived in Tokyo. After being sat down for a long time, they both had weird pins and needles. Not helping with their journey to the hotel.

“So, Where is the hotel?”

“This way.” Emily said, rounding a corner. The road was pretty empty, and buildings looked ominously overhead. Giant billboards were scattered across some of the buildings, promoting shoes, cars, things like that.

“Jeez, it’s so quiet here. How far until the hotel?”

“Just around this corner. Come on.” 

 

 

 Remy flopped down on the nearest bed when they entered their room. Emily followed and fell onto the other bed.

“Ugh, I am so tired! What time is it?” Remy asked. Emily pulled out her phone.

“Well, here it is 6am on Tuesday. In America, it is... 5pm on Monday. Do you just wanna sleep for a while?” 

“Sure.” Remy replied, and took his phone out, probably on Twitter. _What a fun way of sleeping,_ Emily thought, _I wanna try it sometime._ She decided to explore the apartment; she wasn’t really that tired and Remy wouldn’t do anything interesting for the next 3 hours at this rate.

 

The flat was actually quite pretty, Emily thought as she strolled around the open area. It was mainly white with light brown. There were large windows on one side that let a lot of natural light in. Stepping out onto the balcony, Emily could see the buildings that had previously towered above them. The few people that were outside at this hour looked so tiny.

“Don’t fall!” She heard Remy call from the main room.

“Fuck off!” She said while laughing, but hurried back inside all the same. Emily heard maniacal laughter from inside. After walking back inside, Emily decided to look at the other room; the bathroom.

 

 

And what an experience that was. As soon as she walked in, she saw just how strange it was. Well, strange or cool... it’s up to interpretation, really. It was kinda small, but still looked fancy. It was then that Emily noticed a small black square in the corner of the mirror. She touched it, but that did nothing. It felt like the rest of the mirror. That is, until she picked up the small remote sat by the sink. She pressed one of the buttons, and the screen lit up. It was a fucking TV. In the bathroom.

 

...Okay, Remy needed to know about this. Emily ran back into the main room. 

“Hey Rem! Come see this!” Remy groaned half-heartedly, but he followed his sister anyway. When they entered the small bathroom, she shoved the little black remote into his hands.

“Press a button!” She said excitedly. So he did. 

 

 

Remy burst into into laughter when the screen lit up, seemingly showing the news. 

“Oh my God, that’s priceless! So, you can watch the news while taking a shit!” He said, imbetween laughs.

“Language!... But yeah, you could.” Emily said, joining in his laughter.

“O-Oh, I have _got_ to show Thomas this!” So he snapped a picture with his phone and sent it to Thomas, along with the caption “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK” 

In a few minutes, Thomas responded back with many emojis and “Is that your bathroom?!”

Remy responded and turned back to Emily, “What else is in this place?” 

“Haven’t looked,” Emily said, “Check!”

The two looked at the other side of the room, where the toilet was. Oh boy. There was a small sliver panel next to it, with several buttons on it. Remy bent down to read the labels.

“Stop. Spray. S-soft spray. Bidet- And a fuckin pressure changer!” It was a suprise that Emily could understand what Remy was saying, considering how much he was cackling. 

“That is really weird... yet kinda cool. I’m confused. Press on of the buttons!” She urged him. So, he cautiously pressed “Spray.”

“I’d stand back if I were you.” Emily said, pulling Remy away from the toilet. Good thing she did too, because just as she did that, a spray of water shot out from the toilet. They both gasped and shrieked like little girls.

“You’re gonna flood the place with toilet water, Remy!”

They both had to sit on the floor because of their laughing fit.

 

 

A lot later in the day, at around 10pm, Remy was sat on his bed watching something on his phone. Emily was on the couch, lazily flicking through channels. They didn’t really do anything interesting today, kinda just slobbing about and unpacking. 

“What time is it in America right now?” Remy asked suddenly.

“U-Uh, about... 9 in the morning. Why?” 

“I’m gonna FaceTime Thomas. Wanna join?”

“In a minute, I’m figuring out if subtitles are a thing here.” Emily replied.

 

 

“Hey Rem! What’s up?” Thomas said, beaming at Remy through the screen. 

“Hey Gurl! Ugh, I’m bored as hell and it’s kinda late. Em’s over there.” He said, pointing the camera at the couch. Emily waved a hand and walked over. She plopped down onto the bed next to Remy.

“Hey Thomas!” Just as Emily said that, that camera appeared to have fallen from Thomas’ hands.

“Rude.”

After a second it readjusted, showing Thomas, now along with Roman and Patton.

“Hey, Remy and Emily! How are you guys?”

“We’re good... What just happened over there?” Roman and Patton looked a tiny bit guilty as Thomas explained.

“Those two ran over here and knocked the camera when they heard that it was you.” 

“We warned you!” Roman insisted indignantly.

“Yelling isn’t warning me! That’s just making me think we’re being robbed!” Remy shook his head at them, making Emily laugh.

“Anyway, how’re the others?” Remy asked.

“Well, Roman and Patton are fine, as you may have already noticed. Logan is... somewhere.. _Logan?”_ Thomas called off-screen. Logan walked into the room.

“Ah, salutations, Remy and Emily. How are you both?” 

“We’re good! How are you coping without me there?” He teased. Logan gave his usual half-smile.

“Perfectly, actually.”

“ _Hey!_ Anyways, where’s Virgil?” Thomas’ face dropped for a milli-second, but he smiled brightly again.

“He’s Uh- fine. Seemed a bit more anxious than normal when he came in. And he came in a bit later than usual. But it’s fine. I talked to him, and he just said he had a load of coffee this morning.” Thomas said. 

“Oh- Okay! Well, we’re gonna go now, or I’m gonna fall asleep with you still there or somethin.” 

 

 

So, Remy and Emily lay in their (surprisingly comfortable) beds. Remy was just drifting off into sleep when he hears a creepy voice in the darkness, 

“Goodniiiightt...”

“Emily, stop it, for fuck’s sakes.” Remy said, while laughing quietly.

 

 

This would be an interesting holiday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked this. Leave a kudo if you haven’t already and comment so I know you’re alive! Tell me what you thought of this chapter and Remy’s sister because I’d love to know!
> 
> Bye! :)


	11. The Case of The Missing Crofters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, announcement time! (Again, jeez)  
> Alright, so there’s a chance that I might not post in a while, because I am currently moving house. Also why this is slightly late.  
> This chapter felt slightly rushed to me, but that’s just because of stress right now. That and the fact that I finsished this at about 1am XD
> 
> Enjoy!  
> (Or don’t, I’m not forcin you :) )

 

It was the 1st week of Remy being on holiday, but that didn’t mean he didn’t keep in touch, oh no. Almost every other day, he would send a picture of him and Emily doing something fun or weird looking, making the others laugh. 

 

At around 8am on Saturday, everyone was going about their normal routines; checking the coffee machines, stocking up on sugar packets,  ~~eating the pastries.~~ Well, everyone except Virgil, who hadn’t arrived yet. 

“Hey Roman, look at this.” Thomas said, showing his phone to him. On it was a picture of Remy, seemingly taken by Emily. He had an almost radioactive-green drink in his hand, and was flipping off Emily but smiling at the camera. Typical. Underneath was a caption:

“ _Watermelon Soda!”_

“That’s fabulous!” Roman exclaimed.

“How do they make it look so... pretty?!” Patton breathed. Logan butted in.

“I believe it is due to a hefty amount of food colouring and-“

“Shhh, Logan. Just, let them enjoy it.” Thomas said, watching as Roman and Patton chatted about how nice the drink looked, having taken Thomas’ phone away from him.

 

About an hour later, Virgil hurried through the door, looking slightly panicked.

“Sorry I’m late Thomas! I was... looking for my keys.”

“Well, at least you’re here on time! Somewhat..” Thomas laughed. It was then that they both heard a shout from the kitchen. It was Patton.

“Uh, Thomas? We.. have a problem!”

 

 

When Thomas heard that, he rushed into the back, followed by Virgil. He looked around for any sign of a problem, but saw none. He spotted Patton peering into one of the cupboards, rummaging around.

“What’s wrong Pat?” Thomas asked. Patton looked at him and rushed over, eyes darting from side to side.

“Where’s Logan?”

“Uh, in the front I think. Why?”

“Look.” Patton led Thomas over to the cupboard where the pastry fillings were kept. A look of confusion crossed Thomas’ face; there were no fillings whatsoever, just plastic coffee cups.

“Where’s the jam?” Patton just shrugged.

“I don’t know, that’s why I called for you. But who’s gonna tell Logan?”

Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem. But you have to remember that it’s Logan Brooke we’re talking about. See, he has a sort of... unhealthy relationship with a specific jelly brand, the only one used in-store; Crofters. In fact, he loves it so much, that he once refused to talk to Remy for a week because he ate a spoonful of the jam. A teaspoonful. But Logan wouldn’t be upset just because the jam was missin, oh no. But also because he’d think he forgot to order it, and he _hates_ being unorganised with a passion. More than he hated Remy that week.

“I’ll leave that to you, Pat. He’s a little less likely to hate you.”

“Only a little less?!” Patton said, despairingly. After a moment, he sighed, “Okay, fine. I’ll do it.” Thomas smile at Patton as he walked to the front of the store. He smiled back nervously.

 

 

5 minutes later, Logan was walking to the back with Patton in tow, who gave a small, hardly noticeable thumbs up to Thomas. Logan just speed-walked over to the filling cupboard at looked inside. Thomas and Patton nervously crept up next to him. 

“Where are they?” Logan asked, a nonchalant expression plastered to his face. Patton swallowed.

“Uh, we don’t know, Logan.” He said quietly. Logan stood up abruptly, startling Thomas and Patton.

“Then we shall have to resolve this problem immediately!” Logan announced suddenly.

“You seem... pretty eager about this, Lo.” Thomas said, a small grin spreading across his face. Logan blushed and crossed his arms.

“Nonsense Thomas. This is just to help the shop, all business.”

“Whatever you say, bud. Okay, what’re we gonna do first?” Logan stared at Thomas, with a suspiciously confident look.

“Questioning.”

 

 

 “Wha- What are you wearing?”

“I’ll be the one asking questions here, Thomas.” Logan had just emerged from the bathroom, wearing Sherlock-style coat, scarf and flat cap. “This is merely to get me in the mindset for investigation.”

“Fair enough- I guess.”

“I’ll help too!” Patton yelled and excitedly ran over, properly wearing the cardigan that was usually tied around his shoulders. Thomas looked over at Logan, only to see that he looked more than ready to bluntly reject Patton. Logan looked back at Thomas and caught his stern glare. He could practically hear him say, “Yeah, you’re gonna let him join in.” Logan sighed lightly and turned back to him.

“Fine, you can assist.” Patton cheered happily.

“Who are we gonna question first?”

“Well, I don’t believe it was Thomas... Was it?” Logan whipped around and glared at Thomas, who shook his head vigorously.

“Alright, it’s not Thomas. So the only other person here earlier was Roman.”

 

 

“ _PUT YOUR HANDS UP ROMAN!”_

“Patton, we are not apprehending Roman, just questioning.”

“...What is happening?” Roman asked the two standing in front of him. They had suddenly appeared next to him while he was serving a customer, making him almost drop the coffee in surprise. While the other two were talking, Thomas sidled up next to him.

“Just.. go along with it.”

“O..Kay? What’s up?” Logan pulled out a small notebook and pen, constantly clicking the pen while explaining.

“Well, earlier we discovered that all of the Crofters jelly was missing from its cupboard. Apart from Thomas and Patton, you were the only one here earlier. So explain.” Thomas couldn’t hold back a laugh when he looked at Roman again. He looked so confused, with wide eyes and a coffee cup held close to his body like a weapon, probably because of how suddenly he was snuck up on. He straightened up and lowered the cup, slowly.

“I didn’t steal your jelly!” Patton stepped forward, a serious look on his face.

“Well, that’s funny. How’d you even know they were gone?”

“Because I was here earlier when you were shouting about it!”

“...Suspicious.”

“No, it’s not!” Roman said laughing. It was kinda hard to take Patton seriously in this situation. Well, any situation really, but that’s not the point.

“Anyway, What on earth would posses you to think that?!” Logan clicked his pen, and took over for Patton, who was now giggling with Thomas.

“Maybe as an act of revenge for past arguments? You know how much I love Crofters, so it’s the perfect revenge act, correct?” Logan said, pointing his pen accusingly at Roman. Roman carefully pushed the pen down with an index finger.

“Okay, look. I wouldn’t take your jelly away from you, mainly because I don’t want to die, but that’s not the point. If I wanted to annoy you, I would’ve done it in a much better way than _that!_ Besides, how do you know it wasn’t someone earlier this week? Virgil stays behind after hours with Thomas sometimes, why not go ask him?”

“...Huh.” Logan muttered, writing down notes in the small book, “Very well. Come along, Patton! No time to waste!” So those two left Thomas and Roman standing there. Roman turned to Thomas, and rolled his eyes dramatically.

“Honestly, I do _all_ the work around here.”

 

 

Virgil was sat at one of the tables out front on his break, seemingly deep in thought, when he heard something behind him.

 _“VIRGIL!”_ The person in question jumped and fell out of the chair. He looked around to see Patton and Logan standing there; Logan shaking his head disapprovingly, and Patton looking slightly apologetic. He offered a hand to Virgil, who took it and stood up. 

“Patton, you really need to work on how you announce yourself.”

“Oh, right. Sorry if I scared ya kiddo!” _Scared was an understatment, but sure._

“Okay, it’s fine. What do you guys want anyway?”

“Do you know anything about any jellies going missing? Roman said you might know.” Logan said, adjusting his hat. Virgil scoffed.

“Yeah, well Princey says a lot of crap, a lot of it not true. Soo..”

“I, _Heard_ that!” Roman yelled.

“Good!” He yelled back. He turned back to the others, worriedly running a hand through his purple hair. He suddenly ripped it away and shoved his hands in his lap.

“Anyway, who’s to say it isn’t one of the others? Just because I stay back later than the others, doesn’t mean I stole the jelly...” Logan's eyes widened.

“Wait, what if it _is_ one of the others?” He turned to Patton, “Well, was it you?”

“What?-“

“Did you take the jams? You’re the one who bakes the pastries _and_ you were the first one on the scene! Did. You. Do it?”

“No!” Patton cried, waving his hands in front of him. Just then, Thomas swooped in.

 

 

“What’s wrong Pat?” 

“I didn’t take the jellies, did I Thomas?! Tell Logan!” Thomas looked at Logan, folding his arms.

“Logan, what possible reason would Patton have for taking the jelly?”

“Well, he could’ve- maybe because.. he wanted to... He wouldn’t. So, who did this then? We still have no leads or solutions!” 

“Well, maybe whoever orders them just... forgot to?”

“Who orders them?”

“Me. Wait-“ Silence filled the room as everyone turned to look at Logan, including Roman who had walked over as soon as he heard about the drama. Everyone watched, shocked, as Logan battled with himself. Literally.

“But.. I’ve been helping to solve this. I am the cause of this-“

“Logan-“

“But I am also the solution. To a problem I have caused. And will inevitably resolve. Am I in an endless paradoxical loop where I endlessly generate a problem and try to solve it, like a snake devouring its own tail in order to satiate it’s hunger?!?!”

“LOGAN! Okay, let’s slow down here. We can figure this out without sending anyone into a crisis! Maybe you did order them, but they got lost?”

“That has never happened before!”

“Doesn’t mean it cant happen entirely!”

 

 

While the others were arguing, Patton and Virgil sat at the table, just watching it all happen. Then Patton felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Sandra sat there, looking mildly concerned with... well, everything.

“What is happening with those three? And what’s with the funny outfits?” She asked, smiling at Patton.

“Well, our jelly for donuts is missing and Logan’s having a meltdown because of it. Also, the outfits are very professional Sherlock and Watson costumes. At least, that’s what Logan said.”

“Oh, okay. And where’s Remy? Haven’t seen him in a little while. Is he okay?” Patton smiled brightly.

“Ahaha, he’s fine! He’s just on holiday! He left on... Sunday... Last week.” His smile faded as he came to a realisation. Patton excused himself and walked over to the arguing staff, leaving. Virgil and Sandra both confused.

 

“Come on Logan! This is kinda stupid now, it’s couldnt be Sandra! How did you even get that idea?”

“You know, you both pride yourself on being smart, so I’m surprised you haven't noticed yet.” Thomas and Logan both looked at Patton in confusion. Logan crossed his arms.

“And why is that?” 

“Well, have you even considered Remy throughout this entire thing? After all, the jelly arrived right before he left for holiday.” Realisation dawned on Logan’s face. Thomas took his phone out and shot a text to Remy, wandering into the back of the store.

**T: Hey Rem?**

**R: Sup, hun?**

**T: Do you know what happened to all the Crofters? Nobody knows where it is.**

**R: Oh crap did I not tell u? I put it all on top of the cupboard cause the normal space was filled with those stupid plastic cups.**

**T: Okay, thanks.**

 

Wait a minute. Hold on. Had they spent almost the entire day interrogating everyone, when they were on the cupboard the whole time? Thomas leaned up to above the cupboards, where it was nearly impossible to see... and felt something. He grabbed it and pulled it down. It was a Crofters jar. They’d been there the whole time.

This was gonna be awkward to tell Logan. He really wanted to laugh, who wouldn’t, but that might just worsen the situation. So, he called to the front of the store.

“Hey guys? I think I found them...”

 

 

The others rushed into the room to see Thomas stood on one one of the counters, gathering glass jars from on top of the cupboard. Logan froze. Virgil scoffed. Patton shrugged. And Roman laughed.

“Well, that’s that sorted, huh?” Patton said cheerily, helping Thomas down.

“ _REMY!”_ Logan yelled, and stormed out of the room. No one knew if they should laugh or not. But they did anyway.

“Might wanna warn Remy about this. Remember last time Logan was mad at him? Didn’t talk to him for a full week!” Virgil said, raising an eyebrow. Thomas nodded and pulled out his phone again.

 

**T: Hey Rem? Might wanna be careful when you get back. Lo doesn’t seem too happy with you rn.**

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this! As I said before, I finished this really late last night, and am now real tired. But, if you see any mistakes, just point them out and they’ll be fixed.
> 
> Have a good day! Byee :)


	12. Virgil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM FINALLY BACK!  
> Oh my gosh, I’m so happy to be back! It took longer than expected to get WiFi up and running, but good news; I have the next 2 chapters planned out!
> 
> WARNINGS:  
> Anxiety attack (mentioned)  
> Swearing
> 
> Have a good day! :)  
> (Or don’t whatever whatevs)

 

“Hey, have you seen Virgil yet?”

At this question, Logan turned around to see Thomas alongside Patton, both looking slightly distressed. Roman was still standing at the counter, but he did keep tapping his foot against the floor every now and then. Looking back at the two in front of him, Logan shook his head.

“I apologise Thomas, I haven’t seen Virgil today, here or at the apartments.” Looking at the clock, it was about half 10, an hour and a half into the work day. Virgil was pretty prone to being late recently, but that didn’t mean they weren’t all allowed to worry. He never told anyone why he was truly late. Even Patton saw through the whole “I couldn’t find my keys” line.

So, where was he?

 

“Have you asked Roman yet?” Logan inquired, though he was pretty sure he knew the answer, because Roman kept tapping his immaculate nails worriedly on the counter, something he hardly ever did. Patton nodded slightly.

“Yeah, we did. He hasn’t seen him either. Do you think we should go look for him?”

“Give it 10 more minutes, Pat. He could turn up any time now.” Thomas said, smiling nervously at Patton. The smile that answered it wasn’t much better. So, everyone kept going about their duties as normally as possible, praying that Virgil would walk through the door soon. 

 

After 10 minutes had passed, and Patton knew it had been exactly 10 minutes as he had hardly taken his eyes from the clock, he rushed over to Thomas. Thomas himself was making someone a hot cocoa at the time, but he was lacking his usual friendly smile as he gave it to the customer.

“Thomas, should we go get him now?” He nodded and gathered the other two.

“Okay, we still need people here to man the shop, so who’s gonna do that?” The others looked around. Patton wanted to make sure Virgil was okay and comfort him in any way he could. Logan was keen to check on his colleague and make sure he was doing adequately.. _Sure._ And Roman wanted to be the knight he knew he always was and help one of his best friends! Thomas needed to be there because he was also one of Thomas’ best friends and he hated the thought of anything bad happening. Oh, and healthy workers. That’s important too.

“I don’t mind staying, Thomas.” Roman stepped forward with a reassuring smile, more comforting than anyone else’s today, on his face. “You can all go.”

“Can I trust you with this Roman? There’ll be a lot of customers for just one person.” Thomas asked. Not that he didn’t trust Roman, he just wanted to make sure he was confident in this. Roman nodded confidently.

“Of course. Should I tell Remy what’s happening? He might want to know.” He said, thinking about how mad he’d be if nobody told him something happened to Virgil. 

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best. Okay, we’ll see you soon.” And with that, Patton, Logan and Thomas hurried out of the store, leaving Roman busy with FaceTiming Remy.

 

 

“We’ll go in my car; it’s closer.” Thomas said as they walked to the car park.

“Of course it is. We both walk to work.” Logan stated, gesturing to himself and Patton as he slid into the backseat of the car. Patton and Thomas hopped into the front seat, Patton fumbling with the seatbelt as he did it up. The engine came to life and Thomas pulled out of the lot and onto the road.

“Okay, where would he be?” 

“I would assume his house. I probably didn’t hear him leaving earlier, because he _didn’t_ leave.” Answered Logan, peering out of the windows at the passing buildings. The car ride was almost deathly quiet, apart from the quiet noise from the radio, which Patton eventually turned off. Thomas pulled into the car park for Virgil and Logan’s apartment, and stopped the engine. He turned to face Logan.

“Do you have Virgil’s spare key on you?” Thomas asked. He only knew about this because the first time Virgil gave the key to Logan, Logan was so confused that he told Thomas, wondering why he chose him. Logan felt Virgil’s emergency key in his pocket now, and sighed half-heartedly. They all exited the car and walked over to the elevator. Well, except Patton, who shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot.

“Oh, I’m gonna take the stairs guys. I’ll see you there.”

“Very well, Patton. Do you know what floor he’s on?”

“Yeah!” Thomas pressed the button for the 5th floor, and they were slowly on their way up. 

“Why was Patton so hesitant to go in the elevator?” Logan asked, before he could stop himself. Thomas glanced at him and explained.

“Huh, I thought he would have told you; he’s scared of elevators. He was trapped in one when he was 6, and hasn’t been in one since.” He said, stepping out to see Patton standing just outside it.

“Fair enough.”

 

When listening for any kind of sound from inside the apartment, Logan couldn’t hear anything. Quickly, he pulled out the emergency key and turned the lock. Thomas and Patton cautiously followed him inside.

The living room was a mess. There was a small lamp pushed off of its cabinet, papers scattered, some of which turned to shreds. Patton made a noise that sounded like a whispered-gasp. 

“Do you think someone broke in?!” He whispered anxiously. It was then that they heard it. A choked sob. Logan immidiately knew where it had come from, as he’d been in there about two weeks ago to wake Virgil up; his bedroom. He walked over to the door and pushed it open.

 

There was a small black and purple lump on the bed, curled up tightly.

“Virgil?!” Patton cried, rushing over to him. Logan quickly held an arm out to stop him.

“Be careful Patton; he’s not okay right now. Give me a minute.” Then, he knelt down a time the side of the unmade bed, and started talking to Virgil.

“What’s wrong? Is he okay?” Thomas asked. Logan didn’t even look away from Virgil.

“Not right now, but hopefully he will be-“ 

“Hopefully?!”

“He is in the midst of a panic attack, Thomas. I don't know how long it’s been going on for, so I can’t say when it’ll end. This normally happens with individuals dealing with Anxiety.”

“B-But, he doesn’t have Anxiety!” Thomas said, eyes wide. Logan glanced at him.

“How do you know that?”

 

 

Logan was still talking to Virgil, a lot of it Patton and Thomas couldn’t hear. They were constantly asking if Virgil needed anything, to which he shook his head shakily.

“Okay, Virgil. You’re doing great. Now, I need you to tell me 5 things you can see.” Virgil uncurled slightly so he could look around.

“Uh... bed. Y-You. Patt. Thomas. A-And that fucking lamp I’m gonna have to get rid of now.” He muttered, glaring at the broken lamp.”

“Okay, stellar job Virge. Can you label 4 things you can hear?” 

“Y-You. Birds outside. F-foot tapping. And.. Patton.” They all looked at Patton, to see tears running down his face. 

“Oh, Patt.” Thomas said, enveloping him in a hug. Logan continued.

“Well done Virgil. Okay, now 3 things you can touch.” 

“T-The bed. My jacket. And your arm which you really need to take off of me soon.” 

“Right, sorry. Anyways, 2 things you can smell?”

“What? Okay, umm.. my conditioner and.. Patt? Have you been baking this morning?” Patton gave a watery laugh, just now noticing the flour smeared on his own arm.

“So yeah, I think Patton’s been baking something.”

“I think he has. Cookies, if I remember correctly. Now, 1 thing you can taste?”

“Tears.” Virgil said, wiping his face with the sleeve of his hoodie, smearing his eyeshadow even more.

“Good job, Virgil. Now, do you feel any better?”

“Yeah. Thanks.” Virgil sat up properly, looking around as if he were on a new planet.

 

 

“How did you know what to do?” Thomas asked, as they all sat down on the edge of Virgil’s bed. Logan sighed.

”Well, when I was a youth, before my mother- y’know, disowned me,” Thomas nodded sadly, “She had an Anxiety disorder. She was normally alone with just me in our house when she had attacks. Therefore, I was the only person there to help. Over time, I learned what to do and how to help her. And, I never forgot.” There was silence for a moment, everyone just sitting and thinking about where to proceed when-

“Virgil, _do_ you have Anxiety? Like, diagnosed?” Virgil looked at Thomas then back to his lap.

“No, I don’t think so. Well, I’ve never been to the doctors or anything because, surprise surprise, I was too anxious about it. I didn’t want to.” 

“Have you ever considered therapy?” 

“Yeah, but...” Virgil trailed off.

“I mean, I know a therapist.” Patton spoke up suddenly. “I met him quite a while ago. He’s really nice; you can go see him if you ever want to.” Virgil bit the inside of his lip and looked around, not really knowing what to do. Thomas took note of this and turned his whole body to properly face Virgil.

“How about this; I pay for you to go to one session with this... What’s his name, Pat?”

“Oh, his name’s Dr. Picani!”

“-Picani. I pay for one session, you go. If you did okay and liked it, you pay to go to more sessions. If not, that’s totally fine, and you don’t have to. Sound fair? I’ll see if I can book one for today.” Virgil stared around at the others. Patton looked pretty cheered up, Logan looked curious and Thomas looked hopeful. _Well, worth a shot, right?_ He thought.

“...Okay.”

 

 

“Ready?”

“..Yeah.”

Thomas and Virgil were standing outside the therapy centre Patton had recommended, just staring at the front of it. It was noon now, and pretty sunny with a slight breeze. It was a pretty normal looking centre, but that didn’t stop Virgil from looking uneasy. Thomas patted his shoulder and they shuffled inside. When Thomas had finished talking to the receptionist about Virgil’s appointment, they sat on the few chairs in the main room. 

“Oh yeah, we’re gonna go get Remy later. You’re coming, right?” Thomas asked, trying to distract Virgil. He was tapping his hand on the arm of the chair when he answered.

“Sure.”

“Okay.” There was a slightly awkward silence as the two waited for Virgil’s name to be called.

“Y’know, you really need to stop getting to places so early.” Virgil muttered. Thomas laughed and shook his head.

“Better early than late!”

“Better _on time_ than late or early.” Virgil grumbled, though he was smiling a little now. It was true though, Thomas had a terrible habit of turning up to events a lot earlier than necessary, much to Virgil’s dismay. They were both just starting to relax when-

“Virgil Winters?”

“Fuck.” Virgil said, slouching in his hoodie. Thomas raised an eyebrow at him.

“You’ll be fine. Anyways, I doubt Patton would recommend you anyone without checking them over 1000 times first.” He said, grinning. Virgil smiled back nervously and walked over to the receptionist.

“Hi! Head on over to Dr. Picani’s room, just over there! He’ll be with you in a moment.” She said, gesturing to the left of the desk. Virgil nodded and walked to the room. 

 

 _Oh my God,_ Virgil thought as he walked into the room. _What is this?_

The room was covered in cartoons. Like, _covered._ Finding Nemo here, Disney there, Steven Universe all around. Virgil knew he watched them, so he technically had no right to judge. But can you seriously have these up in a therapy room? He sat down on the brown couch and waited for this “Picani” figure. He decided to busy himself by looking around at all the movie/cartoon quotes on the walls. 

“You’re mad, bonkers, off your head! But I’ll tell you something... All the best people are.”

“Just keep swimming!”

“Ohana means family! Family means nobody is left behind or forgotten!”

Virgil jumped when he heard something from the left side of the room; the door opening.

“Sugar! Spice! And everything nice! These are the ingredients chosen to make the perfect first session!” There was a man walking into the room, and Virgil could tell he was Patton’s friend, if not just from the random outburst. He had light brown hair, and burgundy glasses with thick frames. He wore a yellowish-brown vest, white collared shirt and a purple pastel tie. The man in question sat in the chair behind the desk, smiling brightly at Virgil.

“Ah, new patient! Do you how do?” 

“..What?” Virgil said, dumbfounded.

“You must be Virgil!” 

“Uh- Y-Yeah.” Virgil stuttered.

“Well, my name is Dr. Picani! Alrighty almighty, let’s get started on this session, shall we?” 

...This was _not_  what Virgil expected therapy to be like.

 

“Oh, for fuck’s sakes, Remy.” Roman murmured. Remy hadn’t answered the FaceTime request yet, and Roman was seriously considering hanging up soon. It had been a whole 5 minutes! He hadn’t answered the earlier call, either. Finally, Remy answered. He looked pissed, and the room was entirely dark. Okay, _maybe_ Roman forgot that it would be late for him .

“What? What the fuck is so important? You know I hardly sleep as it is! Why-“

“It’s Virgil.” Roman said simply, knowing this would catch Remy’s attention. And he was right. Remy sat up, a worried look on his face.

“Fine. What’s wrong with Virgil?” So, Roman began explaining the story of what happened. Or, what he knew anyway. 

“All I know so far is that, Virgil’s been acting kinda strange lately, showing up late for work. Today, like an hour and a half ago, Thomas, Patton and Logan went to go check on Virge. None of them are back yet, but Thomas texted me saying it was okay, and he’d tell me when he got back. I don’t know anything else yet.” He saw that Remy had accidentally woken Emily, who was now cursing him out and rubbing her eyes.

“Okay, just- keep me filled in.” Remy said, looking worried. 

“Of course. I’m sure Virgil or Thomas will tell you about it later anyways. Do you want to talk for a while, or are you leaving?” Remy rolled his eyes.

“Bitch, you just woke me up at _11_ _pm at night,_ and then just try and leave me? Nah, may as well stay up now. I’ll be leaving at 1am anyway. So, just you at the shop, huh?” 

“Well, that and the large amount of customers and responsibilities I have.” He joked. He could hear Emily in the background of the call, now fully awake.

“What is going on?”

“Roman’s all by his lonesome at the shop. Wanted some company.” Remy answered.

 

“Oh, yeah Virge? How was the session?” Patton asked excitedly. Roman stared at Patton, confused. It was 2pm, and the other four had just gotten back from... wherever they were, about 5 minutes ago. 

“Session? What session?” Thomas laughed and began explaining, but not before gaining Virgil’s permission first. Roman listened intently, a shocked and sad expression growing on his face the whole time.

“So, in short. We were at Virgil’s apartment for like, an hour. Then he went to go have the therapy session, then we decided to go back to his house to help him clear everything up.” When Thomas had finished, Roman didn’t really know what to do with himself. Virgil had been late to work because of Anxiety the whole time? It would also explain why he’s so shy around other people...

Roman nodded sadly at Virgil, deciding that hugging him might just scare him more; Virgil nodded back.

 

“Hey Ro? You ready to leave?” 

It was now about 9pm. The shop having been shut a couple hours ago, they didn’t really have much to do for a while. Logan went to go run an errand of some kind, Patton was doodling on a napkin, having a kind off draw-off with Virgil, who was clearly winning. And Roman was practicing making coffees in the back of the store. When Thomas called him, he dried his hands and walked out to the front. It was almost pitch black outside, beside the streetlight directly outside the store.

“There you are. Okay, are we all ready?” Thomas asked, making sure everyone was there. “Alright, let’s go!” So, they all rushed outside into the crisp night air, rubbing their arms and shivering. They knew Remy had left about 5 hours ago, meaning they’d have a while to wait, it being a 10 hour flight. Sliding into the car, with Thomas and Logan in the front, And Virgil in the back; Roman and Patton would be carpooling behind them. 

“Okay,” Thomas said. “Let’s go get Remy.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for being patient and not killing me in the comments!
> 
> I don’t really have anything to say here sooo
> 
> Bye! :)


	13. Collecting Remy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So I have a couple things to talk about.  
> First, this is meant to be the last “complete” chapter. There will be one after this, that will be the final chapter. Unless you guys want like, one more chapter on this story, in which you will need to provide me with an idea. But hey, it’s gotta end sometime, right?  
> Also, this chapter is meant to be just filler, just complete bants an laughter, so I hope I got that right.  
> And, drumroll, I will be making an announcment on the final chapter. I really can’t wait to say but I’ll need to wait a little longer!
> 
> WARNINGS:  
> Swearing.  
> Hope you all enjoy! :)

 

 

_5 Hours Before_

"Do you wanna get a coffee before we head off?" Emily suggested. Remy and Emily had finally finished packing and were now about to leave for the airport. 

"Well Hun, put it this way; I won't be able to move if we don't. So yeah, let's go get coffee."

So, they headed to the nearest café and stepped inside. Now that they thought about it, the shop looked remarkably similar to their hotel room. 

"I just hope they have normal coffee here." Remy whispered to Emily, who shook her head at him and ordered. 

"They have  _canned_ coffees here." He noted, looking outside at the random coffees containing random snacks and drinks.

"Yeah, this must be like a dream for you." Emily replied sarcastically. She payed for the drinks and handed one to Remy. They quickly left the store and walked down the concrete roads. As they were walking, Remy took a sip of the coffee, and immediately stuck his tongue out in disgust. 

"Ugh, our coffee is so much better! I can't wait till we get back, Jesus."

"No, it's just you have incredibly high standards that only Starbucks or your own coffee can fill."

 

_Present_

Remy was sat on the plane next to Emily, once again. They had been on that damn plane, for five and a half hours! He huffed loudly and slumped back into his chair. There were so many thoughts going around his head currently; How was Virgil doing? And speaking of which, what was happening with him anyways? He didn't even know the full story. Also, the holiday was already over, it had went so fast! Emily turned to him, but kept her eyes on her book. 

"If you are about to rant to me, I don't want to hear it. We have about 4 and a half hours left until we arrive. If you go to sleep, I'll wake you when the food trolley comes." She said matter-of-factly.

"Bitch." Remy muttered under his breath, but he was grinning widely. She always knew exactly what he was about to say. Which could be a blessing or a curse, honestly. He stared out the window, which he had once again begged to sit by. All that was visible were the clouds below and bright, twinkling stars above. The sky was an inky dark blue, with the random specs of light glimmering in the night. Remy pulled some earphones and his phone from his pocket. Swiping through his phone, he put on a random playlist and leaned back in his chair, bopping his head to the music (Every so often singing along to piss Emily off). 

 

"IT MEANS NO WORRIES, FOR THE REST OF YOUR DAYS!"

Roman and Patton were belting out Disney songs with the volume at full blast as they approached the airport. Thomas' car was in front, and had been for the past hour and a half. For the majority of the time, Patton had been snoring softly in the passenger seat. But now he was fully awake and by far the most energized out of the two of them. Which would be useful, considering the fact that they still had almost 4 hours before Remy and Emily arrived. The car containing Thomas, Virgil and Logan pulled into the parking lot. Because all of the windows in Roman's car were closed to preserve heat, getting out of the car into the night air was a harsh feeling. Roman yawned as they got out after parking next to Thomas.

"Alright, are we ready? Have we got everything?" Thomas asked, who looked just as tired as Roman himself. They wandered into the airport, talking quietly and laughing.

 

Walking down the halls to the arrival hall was weird; it was pretty quiet, except for the few people walking down the halls, so their feet were obnoxiously loud against the polished floor. 

"Where do we want to go and wait?" Thomas asked, once they had reached the hall. The place was filled with Cafes, restaurants and other shops.

"I suggest coffee." Virgil said, yawning and stretching while looking around at the random coffee shops littered among others. Like Patton, Virgil had been asleep for the ride. But as he had only slept for an hour, it somehow made him more tired. The others nodded in agreement and they headed towards the nearest shop. Remy would not approve; He always preferred the quality of the coffee, rather than the convenience. Once he refused to go into a coffee shop because, and I quote "This bitch has no good coffee beans! You enjoy that shit, I'm going to Starbucks." And he was as good as his word.

 

After grabbing their coffees, they all sat down on the hard chairs in a small corner of the seating area. Sitting down, they all found individual activities to do; Reading, playing on phones. Well, except for Patton, who was peering around at the different shops. After a moment, he stood up again and pulled his wallet from his pocket.

"I'm gonna go to the shop over there. Be right back Kiddos!" He said, and wandered off, whistling a tune which Roman immediately recognised as "Belle" from Beauty and The Beast.

"Good choice!" He called out, causing Patton to turn around and burst into a fit of giggles. 

"Thank you!" He called back. Patton began to walk away again, trying to continue whistling, and failing due to his laughing fit.

The others all turned back to their phones or other random things they were doing. Thomas looked over at Logan ”Hey, when do you think Pranks and Missy will get back?” He asked him.

”I am almost certain they said they would be back tomorrow. Their holiday in Britain was for about the same length as Remy’s.” 

The people Logan and Thomas were talking about were Missy and Pranks. They were two mischievous kids whose mother happened to be a regular at the store, and they almost always joined her. Probably just for Roman’s antics. But they were probably the cheekiest children you could meet. They actually became good friends with Virgil because, and I quote, “They just understand me. And they share my humour.” By humour, Virgil meant the one time Logan sat down for a break, and sat straight onto one of Pranks’ whoopee cushions. Pranks isn’t even his real name; just the nickname the cashiers gave him. 

 

"So, how   _do_ you make an Americano? I've been trying for a while now and I still haven't figured it o- Oh, hi Thomas!" Roman was standing at the front counter of the shop they had just ordered from. Yes, he went back. And yes, he was now asking an amused yet confused cashier on how to make an Americano. 

"Hey Ro. Whatcha doin?" Thomas asked slowly. He seemed just as confused as the poor cashier, but was also on the verge of laughing. Roman smiled back at him cheerily.

"Well, I was just asking this fine sir on how to make a certain type of coffee I've had trouble with in the past! Look, he made me one and it looks so good!" He said, showing Thomas the coffee. Thomas pinched the bridge of his nose with his hand, but trying desperately trying not to laugh at the innocence of the situation. He decided not to ask why he had ordered another coffee. 

"Roman, no" He sighed. "Look, if you really want to learn, I'll teach you when we get back. Just, leave the nice man alone."

"Okay!" And so Thomas pulled Roman away by his arm, while thanking the cashier, who looked like this was the most interesting moment of his life. As they headed back to their table, Thomas shook his head at Roman while laughing.

"If this is what you're like all the time when you don't get enough sleep, I'm so happy you believe in 'Beauty Sleep.'"

 

 

When the two got back to the table, Patton had also returned. He and Virgil were now scribbling furiously in a separate notepad each. Logan was sat with a book in hand, as usual. 

"Hey guys!" Thomas said. Logan looked up and nodded in greeting, but Patton and Virgil's eyes stayed glued to their pages.

"Pat?" Roman asked. "You okay?" Virgil sighed, still not looking up  from the notepad. 

"Roman, shut up. We are very busy. This is war. I need to win this shit." 

"Language." Patton said, still not looking up.

"They're continuing their... drawing competition, from earlier. Patton challenged him when he returned with the notebooks, and they haven't stopped since." Logan stated, peering at Roman's shocked expression over his book.

"Oh." Roman answered, plopping back down onto his chair. "How long till Remy's here?"

 

"Personally, I think Patton wins." Logan chipped in, once again. Even though Thomas was meant to be the judge, it still somehow became an argument. Roman thought Virgil did a spectacular job, Logan thought Patton did.. better? If that's the word you’d use? Patton and Virgil didn't even know what was happening anymore, and Thomas was just waited for it to end.

"Okay, fine, fine! It was a tie! Alright?" They all looked at him, as if horrified. Roman literally had a hand over his mouth. 

"Thomas, you know that can't happen, right? It just won't work; someone has to win." 

"Yeah, like Remy and Roman with the whole hair colour incident!" Virgil added.

"Certain things we don't talk about Virgil." Roman huffed. Thomas decided to just lean back and watch the arguing resume. He thought it was funny how fiery Roman was acting, and had the orange hair to match. He certainly had the personality of a raging fire right now. He laughed but looked around suddenly; was that Remy's flight that was just called? He couldn't hear over the incessant yelling.

"Be right back." He said to the others before heading off to the entrance Remy and Emily would be at.

 

Thomas headed down to where Remy's plane would arrive and, sure enough, Remy and Emily were both walking down a hallway, chatting and giggling loudly in a kind of sleep-induced haze. 

"Hey guys!" Thomas called cheerily, momentarily forgetting about what was happening at their table behind him. Remy looked over and grinned. 

"Hey Gurl! Where are the others? They not coming?" This time Thomas actually laughed. 

"Uh, well- no, but they're kinda occupied right now."

"Bitch, they're meant to be occupied with  _me_ right now! Come on!" So the three headed back to where Logan, Roman, Patton and Virgil were sat. You could hear their voices from the hallway over all the others.

“Don’t say anything. I want to see if they notice you. Vi and Pat probably will right away. Dunno about Logan and Roman, though.” Thomas whispered to Remy, who rolled his eyes, but did nothing anyways. Not the grand entrance he was hoping for but sure.

 

“Hey Rem? Who do you think won this?” Asked Thomas, gesturing to the drawings in the notepads. Remy’s mouth fell slightly open.

“ _This_ is what they’ve been arguing about?! Oh, for fucks’ sakes, Virgil won! Happy?” 

“Language.” Patton said distractedly, making Remy laugh.

“Thank you Thomas, I knew Virgil won!” Roman said, still examining the paper. Thomas began to laugh too.

“I didn’t say that.” 

“Well then, thank you Logan. For finally admitting defeat.” Remy rolled his eyes, once again.

“Look _up,_ bitch.” Roman did, and saw Remy standing there. He jumped up in suprise befor getting up properly and hugging his friend.

“When did you get here?!” 

“Like, 5 minutes ago, Gurl. Thanks for noticing.” 

“Okay, we’ve got Rem and Em now, can we go?” Thomas said, exasperated.

“Sure, Just never call us that again.”

 

“Okay. What in the actual _fuck_ has been happening while I was gone? Please explain.” Remy exclaimed. Virgil turned around in the front seat and sighed lightly. He may as well tell Remy, right? He was his best friend. So, he filled Remy in on everything happening in the past couple of weeks; The coming in late, the Anxiety, the Therapy.

“Alright, Do you think you’ll go back?” Remy asked seriously. 

“Speaking of which, how was the last one?” Roman added in, trying to focus on driving and Virgil. Virgil ran a hand through his purple hair, and shrugged.

“I don’t know, it was okay, I guess? The therapist is..” He struggled to think of a word to describe the eccentric therapist. “Interesting. You’d probably love him Roman; he’s a huge Disney nerd-“ “You say that like _you’re_ not.” “But you could tell he’s Patton’s friend.” He finished with a light laugh. 

“I don’t know if I’ll go back. Maybe. Probably.”

 

Thomas’ car was very calm in comparison to Roman’, which was bursting with noise and song. Thomas and Logan were sat at the front, Patton and Emily at the back. Logan was just about done with his book, and Thomas was tapping the steering wheel in time to the songs playing on the radio. Logan looked into the back of the car at Patton and Emily, only to find that they were seemingly playing Patty-Cake. He raised an eyebrow, Patton saw and grinned.

“You okay, Lo?”

“What are you doing?”

“Playing Patty-Cake!” He responded brightly. Logan shook his head semi-fondly.

“How old are you two?”

“One’s age does not define their maturity, Logan. Just take Patton, for example.” Emily chipped in.

“Yeah, take me for- Wait. HEY!” Patton giggled, fake pouting as Emily laughed.

“Well try and find something more productive to do.” Logan said as he faced the front again, but he was smiling. Patton was sure of it.

 

After about half an hour in the car, Remy, Virgil and Roman received a text.

“You have been added to ‘The Upbeat Caffine Gang!’ What?” Virgil read out loud. Going into his text messages, he had indeed been added in to a group, along with Roman, Logan, Remy, Thomas, and Patton. And they all had nicknames. Of course.

 

**Thomathy, Logan-Jackson, Disney-Prince, Starbucks And Virge have been added by Patton-Cake.**

**Logan-Jackson:** This is not what I meant by “Something more productive.”

 **Virge:** what 

 **Starbucks:** u kno what? I’m not gonna question it. but good names Pat

 **Patton-Cake:** Thanks! I made this group just in case we ever need to text each other! So then we won’t have to repeat the same message loads of times.

 **Logan-Jackson:** That is a very good idea, Patton. But why are you texting? We are right next to each other.

 **Virge:** very hypocritical there, Logan

 **Thomathy:** I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY

 **Thomathy:** Sorry! I tried to do voice-to-text. Left the radio on lol

 **Starbucks:** OMFG

 **Virge:** lol

 **Virge:** Hang on, I wanna do somethin real quick.

**Virge changed Disney-Prince’s nickname to Prince-Alarming**

**Virge:** I think that’s more accurate

 **Prince-Alarming:** How dare you!

**Prince-Alarming change Virge’s nickname to Virge-Of-Destruction**

**Virge-Of-Destruction:** You call me that as if it’ll offend me

 **Virge-Of-Destruction:** And eyes on the road. I’d rather not die actually

 **Thomathy:** Roman! Don’t text and drive!

 **Starbucks:** u not dancin with anyone anymore? XD

 **Thomathy:** Nah, the radio’s off.

**Starbucks changed Patton-Cake’s name to Fluff**

**Fluff:** What’s fluff?

 **Virge-Of-Destruction:** oh god not now Pat. And not over text it’s way too complicated

 **Logan-Jackson:** I agree with Virgil. That is a bad idea.

**Starbucks changed Logan-Jackson’s nickname to Pocket-Protector**

**Pocket-Protector:** Why?

 **Starbucks:** don't judge me I’m bored

**Virge-Of-Destruction changed Fluff’s nickname to Patton-Cake**

**Virge-Of-Destruction changed Pocket-Protector’s nickname to Logan-Jackson**

**Starbucks:** How very fucking dare you. You ruined my masterpieces

 **Patton-Cake:** LANGUAGE

 

“I am so confused. Like, with everything.” Virgil said, laughing at the stupid message group. Remy was laughing too, and finished reading the messages out to Roman, who wasn’t texting anymore after Thomas and Virgil’s warnings.

Honestly, it was one of the strangest things, to watch and hear two cars, one behind the other, and almost everyone inside roaring with laughter. But hey, at least they were happy again, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAKE SURE TO READ THIS  
> So, I’m gonna put a vote out real quick, and you can say what you want to see next for this story. (I will check next week some time maybe)  
> 1\. Make the absolute chapter and finish this story!  
> 2\. Make one more full chapter and the final one after! (Give me an idea in the comments.)  
> Write the number that you want, and I’ll check them!
> 
> Hang on, I want to point something out in the story. When Roman is asking that guy how to make an Americano, I was kind of thinking of Thomas as the “Responsible Adult” And my mind immideatly went to the kind of “No son, come away from the nice man.” Like, leave the poor guys alone type thing. Kinda thing IDEK
> 
> Give this a kudo if you aren’t already, because hey, it lets me know you’re alive and you like this crap! Also comment, because I like reading comments, it’s awesome to hear from you all! 
> 
> Bye! :)


	14. Nostalgia (Finale)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter. God, didn’t think I’d be saying that, yet here we are. I’m gonna leave all the emotional stuff at the end of this, and if you’re bothered to read it, that’d be amazing.
> 
> Warnings!  
> I... don’t think there are any. Lol 
> 
> Have a good day! :)

 

It all started when Thomas began to get addicted to coffee. Sure, that could be considered a normal thing but, being the kind-hearted person he was, Thomas decided to help out others and open up his own coffee shop. Unusually, he chose his workers _before_ the shop opened to the public. 

First of all there was himself, the Manager who would occasionally work the tills. This was mainly because he just like helping people out. But, then again, watching all the weird and wacky people enter and leave his store feeling refreshed, was kind of a nice feeling, knowing that he could witness that. And it was mildly amusing. 

Then, there was his partner. That was Logan. Logan was normally the one to tend to all the bills, taxes, and so on. It could be boring sometimes, but hey, someone had to do it. He drank coffee a lot, which made sense, given the situation. But Patton always tried to get him to take a break. 

Patton was probably the most sociable person Thomas had ever seen. He was good with, most people. So he was normally put on front desk duty. He always managed to lift people’s spirits in one way or another, and everyone loved having him around. As the others had found out, even though he appeared goofy and aloof a lot of the time, he was probably one of the smartest workers there. He was very easily misunderstood.

Next was Roman. Roman was..actually, very similar to Patton. He wasn’t as egotistical as people thought, he could just be a bit dramatic sometimes. As it turns out, Roman is indeed very selfless. But of course, anyone who asked would get the next little while filled with Roman talking about “Adventures.” 

And now, Remy. Remy was very friendly with most people and loved gossip above, pretty much all else. He could probably talk for hours if he wanted, just chatting with the customers for ages. But nobody knows if that’s true, because they’ve never given him the chance. But then again, if you tried to stop him, you would either get a “Shut up, bitch!” Or a very sassy remark of a similar caliber. But hey, just his personality, right?

And last was Virgil. Actually, no. He’s not unsociable; he’s quite friendly. But his Anxiety kind of prevents him from successfully managing to make friends or anything, really. But the one thing that pisses him off to this day, is that  _still_ nobody knows about different coffee types. STILL. 

 

It it was a normal day at The Upbeat Caffine, if you could call it normal. Roman had just approached Virgil in the back of the store; they seemed to be arguing. Patton was checking all of the cakes and pastries, _not_ taking any. Remy was at the front desk, ready to greet the early morning customers. By that I mean, he was on his phone. Logan was upstairs working out some bills, as he had earlier told Thomas. Meanwhile, Thomas was counting the money in the register, making sure everything was ready for the day. 

 

“Just try it Virgil! You never know unless you try!”

“Roman, I don’t even know what you made. Before I even consider trying it, tell me what coffee it is.”

“Ugh, you’re no fun! Fine, it’s a black coffee and mint leaf, like the one you made the other day!” Virgil was not gonna believe that for one second. But he kind of had to try it now, didn’t he? But it’s always suspicious when Roman comes up to you holding a coffee cup full of an unknown substance. Virgil took the cup, and sipped.

“ROMAN YOU FUCK!” It was an oyster and salt coffee. Oyster. And. Salt. Roman gave him the idea ages ago, and Virgil shut it down. But now Roman made it, and tricked Virgil into tasting it. Virgil jumped off the counter he was sat on, and began chasing after Roman, who had already began running away. 

Just as he did, Logan came downstairs. Virgil ran past him, almost bumping his shoulder. 

“Virgil, what going on? Are you alright?” But, Virgil was already way past him. Logan decided maybe Thomas knew what was going on, and went to go talk to him. 

 

Meanwhile, the shop was just beginning to open, and Remy was still waiting at the counter for Roman to show up. Just as people started pouring in, Remy called to Roman, who was still running away from Virgil.

“Roman! Get you ass over here or I will literally pull you by your hair!”

“I CAN’T!” Roman knew Remy probably wasn’t joking, but Virgil was still running after him and he had to save his pride. He kind of regretted having long hair now, because orange locks kept blinding him from running. But it was fine, surprisingly enough, he and Virgil were both laughing. 

 

It was about midday now, and people were arriving for their normal lunches and snacks. Patton took a sample tray, as he normally did at lunchtimes, and went to go chat with some customers. Apparently Missy and Pranks were supposed to be back from England today, but for now there were only a few kids around. But, just as he thought that, two very familiar faces came through the doorway. It was Missy, Pranks, and their mother, who looked, quite frankly, exhausted.  

“Hey you two! How was your holiday?” Patton asked them. Missy beamed back at him, twirling around in his skirt as he talked. 

“It was so cool! They have really good fish and chips there! And they call the fish and chip shops ‘chippies!’” Missy and Pranks continued to talk about their trip, and Thomas came over to join the conversation.

”Oh yeah! Do you two want a sample?” Patton said, offering the tray to them as normal. Of course, they both took one and grinned and thanked him. 

 

In in the afternoon, people’s shifts swapped around. Remy and Roman could now give out free samples, serve people at their tables or (attempt to) make coffees. This meant that Virgil and Patton were at the front desk. Patton was fine with this every day, he was still helping and got the chance to talk to people. Virgil on the other hand, didn’t really enjoy this time of day. He would take people’s orders, give them their change, send them on their way, and that was that. He liked talking to people and helping them, sure, but whenever there was a customer that was pissed off because “there was meant to be one shot of espresso instead of two” Virgil had no idea how to handle it. Which meant that Patton would normally have to come to his rescue. But he much preferred to make the coffees; it was quieter and he didn’t have to deal with people more than he needed to. That, and he was the only one that knew how to make them. Thomas had learned the difference between a latte and an espresso, but with difficulty. But hey, progress is progress, right?

 

At the end of the day, all the workers, along with Thomas and Logan, were sat in different areas of the store. They all had their phones out. 

**“The FamILY!”**

**Starbucks:** So, how r u all doin?

 **Logan-Jackson:** I am adequate, Remy. But, I must ask, why are you texting?

 **Logan-Jackson:** Also, *are *you

**Virge-Of-Destruction changed Virge-Of-Destruction’s name to Virge**

**Virge:** Yea Rem, wat u doin m8t. Spell it right.

 **Starbucks:** Lmaooo

 **Patton-Cake:** Hey guys! What’s up?

 **Thomathy:** How’s it hangin?

 **Prince-Alarming:** Yes, greetings everyone! Are you all okay?

 **Prince-Alarming:** Hang on.

**Prince-Alarming changed their name to Prince-Charming**

**Prince-Charming:** That’s better. 

 **Starbucks:** Wait, why did all of you join the chat at the same time?

 **Thomathy:** Well, we heard Logan like, sighing angrily from downstairs. We were wondering if you guys knew what that was about lol.

 **Virge:**....

 **Virge:** Lol

 

Now, we all know by now that Logan isn’t the most extroverted person in the world. He was okay with staying in his office, sorting out the store’s paperwork, then coming downstairs and socialising later when there were less people. The others were okay with all of this; they all had their own way of doing things, so they had no right to criticise, right?

 

And hey, they all still work together, and they still love it.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here we are. I didn’t think this would be over so quickly. I always had more ideas for this story, but I felt like that’d be milking it if I kept going with this for ages, soo.  
> I really appreciate all comments and Kudos you leave, you’re all amazing and i couldn’t ask for better readers! I was writing this story earlier, and now as i post this, all i can think is “I feel like I’m sending my kid to college XD”
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading, but I actually do have another another announcement for you all. But I’ll save that for another time. 
> 
> Also, if you haven’t caught on to what i’ve Done with this chapter and why it’s important, i suggest going back to the first ever chapter. XD
> 
> See you soon! :)


	15. Announcement

 

 

Hey guys! So, the story’s finished huh? Wow, didn’t believe I’d say that for a while, yet here we are.

I adored writing this story and all of the oneshots I’m doing. Now, before anyone jumps to any conclusions, I’m going to be continuing with the oneshots, so no need for panic. But I have some amazing news!

So, if you somehow haven the heard of this person already, Xaandir is a writer and an artist that I have looked up to for, quite a while now. So, there’s this particular speedpaint on YouTube to do with Sanders Sides that they did. It’s called Timeless Love. They were originally going to write the story, but couldn’t find motivation for it.

I think you know where this is going.

Thats right. I reached out to them and asked if I could write a version of the story from what limited info I have about it! I don’t know when I will start, but it will be sometime soon, so keep an eye out! Also, I will link Xaandir’s stuff in the actual story chapters themselves, so you can watch the speedpaint for yourself and check out their other stuff. 

 

Thats all im going to say for now, but I’m so excited for when I start writing this, whenever that’ll be. I hope you share my excitement and stick with me for the story! 

See ya for now! :)

AndAnEmoWhosNowOurBestFriend

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me if I should write more! I write Sanders Sides related stuff. I can write Platonic, I might try romantic at one point, but only if you want it! One thing I will never write is smut. Sorry! :)  
> I do have a oneshot compilation if you ever want to read those!  
> Share this with any of your Thomas-Sanders-loving friends! XD


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